05 Jun: Russian Time Is Up! Ukrainian Reinforcements Turn The Tide - Reporting from Ukraine

Day 833: Jun 05

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Kharkiv direction.

Here, Russians severely misjudged their own capabilities and prematurely launched their offensive, while Ukrainians are on the brink of turning the tide and starting their counteroffensive.

As you remember, in the first several days of the Russian Kharkiv offensive, Ukrainians conducted a fighting withdrawal from the border. The reason why they did this is to buy time for further reinforcements to arrive at the main defensive line near the settlements of Lyptsi and Vesele. While Ukrainians continued to withdraw near Lukiantsi, they caused the Russians further delay behind the small river at Hlyboke, doing massive damage to Russian assault groups with FPV kamikaze drones. Later, Russians eventually managed to advance on the flanks of Hlyboke and force Ukrainian units to pull back out of the settlement.

Interestingly enough, Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainians decided not to pull back fully to their defensive line but to hold the Russian advance as it stood now as much as possible. Ukrainian reasoning becomes more apparent if we look at the topographic map. Here, we can see that Lyptsi is situated in the lowlands and is surrounded by three strategic heights. These hills provide fire control over and entry into Lyptsi for whoever controls them. As you can see, on the eastern heights, Russians had advanced towards the main Ukrainian line of defense. Ukrainians still control these ridges, providing them fire control over the settlement. The hills to the east are under complete Ukrainian control. This means that if the Russians do eventually manage to move into Lyptsi, Ukrainians will be able to constantly fire into Lyptsi, never allowing Russians to gain complete control.

The highest intensity of clashes is taking place on the northern heights, which Russians nearly have taken completely, for two important reasons. Firstly, if Russians manage to take full control over these hills, they will be able to start moving into Lyptsi itself. While Ukrainians would maintain fire control over the settlement through their tactical positions on the surrounding heights. Russians could start intensively bombing Ukrainian defenses in order to slowly wear them down. Secondly, if Russians gain fire control over Lyptsi from the north, it would also heavily complicate future counterattacks here, as Ukrainians would have to move through the settlement and up the hill. Because of this, Ukrainians understood it was critical to hold their positions on the northern hills in front of their main defensive line.

At the beginning of the Russian offensive in northern Kharkiv, Russians managed to take control over the northern dachas in the exurbs of Lyptsi. Russians would be able to use this to move along the sides of Ukrainian positions on the hills, severely threatening the Ukrainian defenses. Ukrainians quickly reacted to this development, and Ukrainians started conducting counterattacks and clearing the houses Russians had entered.

Ukrainian commanders also transferred special forces units and experienced drone operator teams to the area to further support Ukrainian soldiers holding the zero line on the hills. Geolocated footage shows Ukrainian drone operators of the 42nd mechanized brigade striking Russian trenches near Hlyboke. Further released footage shows more FPV drone strikes on buildings, positions, and transports around the settlement. Drone operators of a Ukrainian special forces detachment also showed how they were destroying Russian cars carrying ammunition to frontline positions. Lastly, the 42nd brigade shared a compilation of footage showing the intensity of their strikes on Russian transports of manpower and ammunition and Russian infantry on the front line.

Ukrainian fighters active in the area stated that their drone operators target Russian supply lines to gradually weaken Russian frontline positions and cause unrest and discontent among Russian troops.

Judging by the intensity of the Ukrainian drone strikes, it’s no wonder that Russian military bloggers report that Ukrainian FPV strikes and grenade drops are the main factors hindering their advance. Moreover, Russian military bloggers state that Ukrainians have...