Russians blow up bridges near Balaklia and retreat.
The Armed Forces counterattack not only in the south, Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted earlier. Ukrainian units unexpectedly launched a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region and came close to Balaklia, taking advantage of the fact that the Russian command had redeployed all the most combat-ready units to the south. This is stated in the report of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on September 6.
Ukrainian forces conducted a counterattack in the Kharkiv region near Balaklia, which pushed Russian troops to the left bank of the Siverskyi Donets and Middle Balakliika rivers on September 6. Verbivka, located less than 3 km northwest of Balaklia, was probably captured by the ZSU on September 6.
Read also: Ukraine uses trickery: the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces will not be a blitzkrieg and this is correct – ISWand reported that Russian forces destroyed unspecified bridges in the eastern outskirts of Balaklia to prevent further Ukrainian advances. Images released on September 6 also show a destroyed Russian bridge over the Middle Balakliika River, a geographic feature behind which the Russian front line in the sector likely runs. Social media users reported that on September 6, Russian troops retreated from roadblocks six kilometers west of Balaklia,” said the ISW report.
In addition, the Institute noted that the Russians are no longer holding their previous positions < strong>in Bayrak and Nova Husarivka south of Balaklia. Retreating, they blew up the bridge across the Siversky Donets near Bayrak.
“Russia's deployment of troops from the Kharkiv region and eastern Ukraine to southern Ukraine will likely create an opportunity for Ukrainian counterattacks. The Ukrainian counterattack in the Kharkiv region on September 6 was probably a cunning attempt caused by the redeployment of Russian forces from this area to strengthen Russian positions against the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kherson region,” analysts write.
If the ZSU really occupied not only Verbivka to the west of Balaklia, but also two villages to the south – Bayrak and Nova Husarivka, then Balaklia was actually already semi-encircled. The Russians, as noted by ISW analysts, are concerned that “the Ukrainian attack on Balaklia aims to cut off Russian forces from Izyum and slowly wedge them into the Luhansk region.” of liberated settlements in the south
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Let us remind you that the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Balaklia showed that the situation in the Russian army is worse than previously thought. Western military experts expressed this opinion in a material for the BBC.
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