Russian Forces in a Panicked Retreat from Kharkiv

The photo below is of a Russian soldier whose body was flattened into the roadbed by traffic driving over him.  Tanks, trucks, infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of civilians fleeing Kharkiv by any ready means,  We don’t know where this picture was taken exactly.  We don’t know who this hapless Russian soldier was, his name or the town he came from, or what he thought about being in Ukraine for the Special Military Operation.  We don’t know if he was a deserter caught on the road and killed by his own forces, or a war criminal who raped a pillaged the civilian populations in dozens of towns and villages in Ukraine.

No one will ever know.  Hopefully, Ukraine will have the decency to bury him or return his remains to Russia for pity’s sake, but in a war marked by shortages on both sides, pity seems to be in short supply as well.

In our last SITREP, we told you that the Ukrainian advance looked as if they meant to cut off and trap thousands of Russian troops with their backs to the Oskil River taking both Kharkiv and Izium in the process.  It would appear the Russians could read maps too and have now withdrawn beyond the river being pursued by Ukrainian forces all the way back to the Russian border and relative safety.

It appears to be a rout in the North at this point.  As many as 10,000 Russian troops may be cut off and surrounded in Izium and their surrender is reportedly being negotiated right now.  The Russian army got out of there so fast that they failed to destroy vast quantities of ammunition, supplies, and enough armored vehicles to equip a new Ukrainian armored battalion and a mechanized infantry battalion at least. They have already taken thousands of prisoners and are said to be having problems moving them to the rear and providing for them.

Ukraine is probably just as happy to drive the Russians out of their country as they are to kill or capture them, as in any case they are out of their country and not very likely to want to return any time soon.

So what caused this collapse of Russian resistance in the North around Kharkiv?  We’re sure it’s a lot of things.  Russian troops are said to be chronically short on food, with some units only getting one MRE per man every other day, their equipment is not in a good state of repair or operation and they are not being paid. They dislike and distrust their leadership.

Some of it may come down to troop quality as well, the initial offensive direction aimed at Kherson threatened Crimea and Russia shifted forces from the Kharkiv area to try to stop it. What was left in Kharkiv were mostlyDonbas conscripts and lightly armed Russian National Guard or Rosgvardia troops as placeholders. There are those disputing that the drive on Kherson was a feint to draw Russian formations South but Ukraine sure seemed to have their tanks, guns, and aircraft right there to launch the assault on Kharkiv at just the right time.

Ukraine has also been bombarding the cell phones of Russian troops with text messages telling them to surrender, that they will be well treated and exchanged for Ukrainians held by Russia. We have heard telephone conversations with Ukrainian military authorities reassuring a Russian soldier that he will not be castrated if he surrenders.