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Clément Molin

@clement_molin

May 12, 2024 • 21 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X

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#Kharkiv : a new front opened by Russia 🇷🇺

The Northern Corps created a few days ago with +/- a 50k army has launched attacks aiming to take Voltchansk and Lyptsi.

Lets look together videos, maps, claims and hypothesis on this new Russian offensive.

🧵THREAD🧵🇺🇦1/18 ⬇️

First, where is this front located ?

Kharkiv is the seconth city of Ukraine, located ~35km from Russia. The frontline lies around the Siversky Donets river. This area was liberated by Ukraine on september 2022.

On this map by @Pouletvolant3 we can see that Russia has taken some villages in the grey zone. These may have been abandoned by Ukrainian territorial defense forces.

The first videos reaching us are somewhat reminiscent of the first months of the war of movement in 2022, but in a more cautious way. The infantry advances largely on foot, sometimes supported by BMPs which are targeted by Ukrainian suicide drones.

Thus, we have already some Russian losses on both sides of the border with Ukraine. Interestingly, it seems Ukrainian armed forces retreated from the border towns to prepared position a few kilometers away.

On the following videos, you will see Russian BMP's and infantry being targeted by drones. On the second one, there is a Ukrainian trench network abandonned by Ukraine.

Based on information shared by @Deepstate_UA and @UAControlMap, we can assure the following billages are under Russian controll : Strilecha, Krasne, Pyl'na, Morokhovets' and Oliinykove.

Borysivka is probably under Russian controll, no information.

It seems Russian forces are now attacking Hlyboke and Luk'yantsi where Ukrainian forces may have retreated.
42nd mecanized brigade is defending this direction, main Ukrainian defensive line is located east and west of Lyptsi.

On the Volchansk direction, the Russian army penetrated from several directions into the forest towards the small city.
The villages of Ohirtseve and Hatyshche are under their control, that of Pletenivka probably also.

Interesting to observe how the Russian infantry marches without being disturbed by Ukrainian artillery and drones.

For the moment, the Russian advance which began 3 days ago is not a breakthrough. Maximum penetration is 5km.

Why ?

The border between Ukraine and Russia is very long. They could've attacked on Chostka, Sumy or Okhtyrka direction but they choose Kharkiv.

3 main ideas : putting pressure on the city, extending the front, threatening Kupiansk.

Hypothesis 1 :

False attack north of Kharkiv, real attack betwee, Kupiansk and Tchouhouiv : enlarge the front and take kupiansk from the north, then secure all Siverski Donets banks.

Hypothesis 2 :

Secure ~10km buffer zone and dig positions : then wait to keep Ukrainian units busy here. Putting Kharkiv back under GRAD fire.

This is what we have for now.

Hypothesis 3 : do both

Secure northern Kharkiv oblast to force Ukrainian forces to deploy brigades there : threatening Kharkiv, Chuhuiv and Kupiansk.

What i think ?

There is one main defensive line for Ukraine. With a 50k force, Russia can't take Kharkiv, however, they will divert Ukrainian forces from Donetsk oblast and will be bombing Kharkiv.

So Kharkiv offensive is a double trap :

If Ukraine divert too much forces from Donbass, Russian summer offensive will breakthrough.

If Ukraine does not defend Kharkiv direction, Russian army will advance and capture large portion of terrain, even threatening Kupiansk.

So now, i will follow daily the situation on my account and on @atummundi's one (think tank account you should follow)

The situation is bad for Ukraine they will need more troops to defend this new front.

Finally, as always do not believe all these maps on Twitter : that's only speculation and false information.

There are some reliable mappers doing incredible work: for example, no one, even deepstate said they entered Vovtchansk.

18/18

And of course i can add this firm image : a lot of Russian bombing. 3 Bridges on Siversky Donets river destroyed including the big one in Stary Saltiv.

Confirmation of Russian presence in Hatyshche north of Vovtchansk.

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1789634346439110877

Well now they may have entered the city according to Ukrainian officials.

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1789634346439110877

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More from @clement_molin

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 18

Ukraine 🇺🇦 has now targeted around 500 russian 🇷🇺 trucks and vehicles during the last 48 days.

Mid-range strikes continue to expand across occupied territories, on roads, bridges and rear base. This continues to slow down russian offensive.

🧵THREAD🧵1/13 ⬇️

From tomorrow, I will be off for more than 1 week, which means there won't be any new map/airstrike/fortification/mid-range strikes update, apart from some small tweets.

I will however continue to follow the overall trends.

In total, I have 270 geolocated strikes on trucks and vehicles since january, most of those are from May to June.

The key Rostov-Crimea road remains the priority target, but roads in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblast have also been largely targeted.

Read 13 tweets

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 15

La guerre en Ukraine 🇺🇦/🇷🇺 a désormais dépassé la durée de la Première Guerre mondiale et pourrait encore durer plusieurs années.

Voici ce qu’il faut savoir en juin 2026 de ce conflit généralisé aux portes de l’Europe 🇪🇺 qui n'en finit plus.

🧵THREAD🧵1/10 ⬇️

Quel est l’objectif de guerre de la Russie, pays agresseur ?

Les objectifs de guerre de la Fédération de Russie ont beaucoup évolué depuis quatre ans. Outre les déclarations officielles, le principal objectif russe est resté territorial et politique. Moscou cherchait, le 24 février, à vassaliser l’Ukraine tout en annexant une large région, la « Novorossia », entre Kharkiv, le Donbass et Odessa. Cet objectif a largement évolué, notamment après l’échec des offensives sur Kyiv, Kharkiv et Odessa.

Aujourd’hui, l’objectif territorial principal reste l’occupation de toute la région du Donbass, en particulier sa capitale de facto, Kramatorsk. Il est très probable que l’armée russe dispose de deux objectifs territoriaux secondaires : l’occupation complète des deux autres oblasts annexés, Kherson (ce qui est quasi impossible à l’heure actuelle) et Zaporijjia, et l’harmonisation de la ligne de front sur la rivière Oskil dans l’oblast de Kharkiv.

L’objectif politique initial — redonner à la Russie sa puissance d’antan, l’ancrer dans l’Eurasie, retrouver les populations, les industries, les mines et l’accès à la mer des deux voisins slaves (l’Ukraine et la Biélorussie) — reste inchangé. Sans l’Ukraine, la Russie est condamnée à être une puissance secondaire et plus largement asiatique, sa dimension d’empire s’effaçant avec la montée en parallèle de la démographie non slave.

Les autres objectifs qui ont pu jouer un rôle auparavant sont caduques aujourd’hui : la démilitarisation de l’Ukraine semble impossible, quatre ans de guerre d’attrition n’ayant pas conduit à un effondrement ukrainien. La dénazification, étendard pour parler de l’effacement du nationalisme ukrainien, est également un échec. Les nationalistes ukrainiens sont plus forts et décomplexés que jamais, représentant près de 100 000 hommes dans l’armée ukrainienne. Les figures antirusses controversées d’Europe centrale et orientale ont par ailleurs été réhabilitées. Empêcher l’OTAN et l’UE de s’étendre à l’Est était aussi un mirage. Bien que la considération eût été réelle, la Suède et la Finlande ont rejoint l’Alliance, tandis que la Moldavie, le Caucase du Sud, les Balkans occidentaux et l’Ukraine ont accéléré leur rapprochement avec l’Europe, tous brandissant la menace russe.

L’objectif russe est donc désormais d’installer la confrontation dans la durée, jusqu’à un effondrement hypothétique de l’aide à l’Ukraine (qui semble compromise par la dernière aide de l’UE), l’essoufflement de la population ukrainienne (une considération bien réelle mais qui n’impactera probablement pas la situation au front) ou une victoire à la Pyrrhus, que ce soit la prise du Donbass suivie d’un cessez-le-feu ou une capitulation de l’Ukraine comme la Finlande en 1940.

Quel est l’objectif de l’Ukraine, pays agressé ?

L’objectif de Kyiv a lui aussi beaucoup évolué. L’armée ukrainienne a été surprise par l’ampleur de l’offensive du 24 février, qui lui a fait perdre des territoires stratégiques, comme le sud du pays. L’objectif initial de survivre en tant qu’État a été largement assuré par les victoires à Kyiv, Kharkiv et Mykolaïv en 2022. Le second objectif, retrouver les frontières d’avant-guerre, a échoué en 2023 après l’échec des offensives ukrainiennes. Depuis cette date, les Ukrainiens ont pour objectif de tenir dans la durée, jusqu’à un essoufflement ou un retrait hypothétique des Russes.

Kyiv refuse de se retirer des territoires sous son contrôle, mais a déjà accepté l’idée de concessions territoriales, de manière non officielle, sur la Crimée, le sud et l’est du pays. Pour Kyiv, il est hors de question de capituler et de céder des territoires sans combat à Moscou, d’autant que les garanties de bonne foi de la Russie ont historiquement montré qu’elles n’étaient pas tenues. Dès lors, l’Ukraine a développé ses propres moyens pour que chaque km2 de territoire conquis coûte plus cher à Moscou, tout en essayant de toucher au maximum l’économie russe. Une contre-offensive hypothétique reste possible, mais il est encore tôt pour savoir si les Ukrainiens ont les moyens de la réaliser.

Read 10 tweets

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 14

https://twitter.com/moklasen/status/2066093709360247128

For months, Ukraine 🇺🇦 has been conducting a series of deep infiltrations on the Velika Novosilka front.

Some of Russia’s 2025 gains have already been reversed, with the February counter-attack expanding to a 40-kilometer front.

🧵THREAD🧵1/12 ⬇️

https://twitter.com/moklasen/status/2066093709360247128

As a reminder, in February, the Ukrainian army conducted a discreet offensive for several weeks, clearing infiltrated areas, securing Pokrovsk'e and infiltrating areas that were previously under Russian control.

This counter-attack notably secured Ternuvat and prevented the use of Uspenivka to launch assaults on the Zaporizhzhia front.

This significantly slowed the Russian advance, reducing its length from 42 km to 25 km (west of Hulialpole).

Read 12 tweets

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 13

The Ukrainian 🇺🇦 blocus of Crimea is starting 🇷🇺

After they repeatedly hit bridges connecting Crimea and occupied Kherson oblast, the Ukrainians started implementing a blocus of the peninsula.

Last night, trucks and a pontoon bridge were hit.

🧵THREAD🧵1/15 ⬇️

Last night, the Code 9.2, Phalanx and the davinci units launched multiple strikes against targets in and around the key roads leading to Crimea.

As you can see on the map, only few bridges are connecting Crimea to mainland Ukraine. 6 of them have been reportedly hit including the main ones :

🔸Henichesk bridge
🔸Chonhar road bridge
🔸Chonhar rail bridge
🔸Armyansk bridge (on canal)
🔸Stavky and Myrne bridges (?) on canal

Read 15 tweets

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 11

https://x.com/clement_molin/status/2065091949833359402

Last night, multiple Ukrainian 🇺🇦 units hit the bridges leading to Crimea, further isolating the peninsula from the land bridge to Russia 🇷🇺

At the same time, strike campaign continues on multiple key roads, with over 375 vehicles and trucks hit since early May.

🧵THREAD🧵1/13 ⬇️

https://x.com/clement_molin/status/2065091949833359402

Crimea is connected with southern occupied Ukraine by multiple key bridges.

The one in Chonhar was hit few days ago by multiple drones, which forced the russians to put up a pontoon bridge for their road traffic.

At least 3 bridges have been recently hit. The one in Henichesk, the ones in Armyansk and in Stavky.

As we can see on the video, these strikes are putting holes in the middle of those key bridges. Any consolidation attempt will probably be hit.

Read 13 tweets

Clément Molin

@clement_molin

Jun 7

Ukraine 🇺🇦 continues its massive mid-range strike campaign against russian 🇷🇺 logistics.

Since early May, more than 290 russian trucks and vehicles have been hit. I have now mapped 210 strikes since january.

🧵THREAD🧵1/14 ⬇️

The strike campaign is guided by multiple units, using a large veriety of drones.

The backbone of it are the FP-1/2 strikes on key logistics hubs, mainly oil/fuel depots, trains, gas stations, electric substations and rear bases.

Those strikes are often guided with AI.

The latest video recently published showcased some strikes around Melitopol (few missed) with Hornet drones.

Interestlingly, everything is not blurred, which helps understanding how they are using those drones.