re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

But Russia's Kharkiv offensive is at least a limited success so far. Ukrainian defensive lines were not near the border, so Russian progress to date is not predictive of larger success.

However,

- Even though Russia has already lost a lot of vehicles in the assault, Ukraine should have destroyed more. The Russian success to this point shows a poor mining effort on Ukraine's part. Whether that is poor planning or simply a lack of mines, I can't say.

- Russia has succeeded in drawing Ukrainian units to this area from other areas of the front. This was a key Russian objective in their Kharkiv operation.

- Russia will likely succeed in establishing a buffer zone near the border. This will likely prevent any future incursions into this area from the "Russian Volunteer Corps" or the "Free Russia Legion." This was another key objective of this Russian operation.


So, no, Russia isn't about to take Kharkiv. But they weren't trying to, as they don't have the force structure to do that. This is a limited operation, but it appears to be relatively successful so far.