Regardless of how and when the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends, the last four days of the attack in the Kharkiv region will still be taught in the military academies.
The pace at which the liberating army advances in the region is simply unimaginable: settlement after settlement returns to Ukraine, dozens - if not hundreds - of Russian soldiers are captured, and those who manage to escape leave behind expensive military equipment, such as artillery systems and state-of-the-art drones. Just to illustrate, from the moment it began The counterattack in the Kharkiv region freed Ukraine about 2,000 square kilometers of its territory in four days.
It took the Russian army 120 days to occupy that area.
How did it happen?
The first key is found in a trap laid by the Ukrainians far from the current hot scene - Kherson district in the south of the country.
For many weeks in the summer, Ukraine signaled its intention to liberate the district, while the Russians could not lose it, if only because it was the only one on the west bank of the Dnipro that they captured.
For them it was a bridgehead for future conquests in western Ukraine.
That's why the Russian command diverted large forces from eastern Ukraine to Kherson province, straight into a Ukrainian trap, while Ukraine continued to build the trap and bombed supply routes, headquarters and ammunition depots.
So, in the last week of August, the Ukrainian operation in the Kherson region began.
The promotion continues until today.
Citizens greet the advancing Ukrainian army soldiers in Kharkiv Oblast
The second key - accurate intelligence and surprise.
While the Russian command was busy with Harson and mistakenly thought that this was the only arena, the Ukrainians discovered the weak points in the Russian defense lines in the Kharkiv district - mainly near the city of Belkalia, and poured large forces of infantry, armor and anti-aircraft there.
Instead of breaking through frontally, the Ukrainians bypassed Balaklia through forests and stream channels and attacked the Russian positions from the rear.
Similar exercises were carried out in other settlements and sowed chaos in the Russian formations.
Entire Russian units lost contact with command and sometimes simply did not have time to react before they were captured or ceased to exist.
The result, at least as of this writing, is a snowball that just keeps growing.
Tonight there were already very preliminary reports about the advance of the Ukrainian army into the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Now the big question is what Russia will do, and especially if it will dare to use tactical nuclear weapons.
Although such a crazy scenario cannot be ruled out outright, there are good considerations against it.
Between Putin and the actual launch there are several people in the chain of command, any of whom may refuse an order;
Crossing a red line is the last thing Russia needs when it is trying to freeze the conflict - it will only lead to more support for Ukraine and more western weapons;
And finally - preparations for the use of non-conventional weapons will be detected immediately by NATO, and it is doubtful that they will pass without a pre-emptive strike.
A destroyed Russian military vehicle in Balaklia, photo: AFP
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