According to sources, Russian forces have already wrapped up the Luhansk group of the Ukrainian armed forces into a "cauldron." The advance of the Russian army was mainly in two directions.
Thus, the Russian army along the Merovo-Markovka-Starobirsk line reached the border of the Kharkov region, while Russian northern forces were being transferred from Belgorod. The connecting area is in the Kupiyansk region (about 116 km from Kharkiv).
Thus, the large armies of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Luhansk and Donbass, composed of about 50,000 to 60,000 men, were surrounded.
Now, Russian troops will participate in clearing nationalist battalions from the area and forcing soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces to surrender. At present, the Ukrainian army in the area is trying to break through the encirclement.
The destruction of the Ukrainian army of the Donbass Group will enable russian troops to reach the border of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions and complete the coverage of Kharkiv. At the same time, Ukraine will lose the most effective unit in its army.
The strongest fighting force of the Ukrainian armed forces is not the Central Army around Kiev, but the Donbass Group in eastern Ukraine.
At the same time, the Russian Navy is preparing to land near the strategic town of Odessa in southern Ukraine, and the Russian Navy has not yet carried out amphibious operations, so why is it delayed in landing, is there a lack of amphibious landing ships or aircraft carriers?
Landing operations certainly cannot rely solely on missile strikes, but must require carrier-based fighter jets, constant missile and bomb attacks, and destroy the enemy's military equipment and air defense systems. Early warning aircraft and helicopters are also needed to constantly circling in the air for reconnaissance and guiding fighters and missiles against designated targets.
Only then, in the second wave, could the Marines and equipment make a successful landing.
The Russian Navy failed to conduct a landing operation near Odessa in the second week, so why not? This seems to be the most convenient war zone, adjacent to Crimea's own naval base. Plus aviation has complete advantages. Coupled with the chaos of the Ukrainian army, morale was low. It should be said that logging in is easy.
However, things are not so simple.
First of all, in and around Odessa itself, there is no place to land. Odessa is the largest port city in Ukraine, with a booming economy, the city is growing too fast, residential areas have been repaired to the edge of the beach, and then all the coasts and beaches of the city have long been buried with mines and lined with anti-tank cement thorns, as well as anti-ship missile "Neptune". If you directly grab the beach and land, this is pure suicide.
Secondly, the superiority of the Russian fleet over the Ukrainian armed forces in terms of mobility is also not obvious. The Ukrainian army quickly received all information from NATO countries on all operations of Russian aircraft and ships. This allowed its armored vehicle columns to move from one city to another almost unhindered for anti-landing operations. There's nothing surprising here, because the Americans have been fighting through proxies. However, this created a lot of problems for the Russian Navy. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will know exactly where the Russian landing forces are going and will send an anti-landing force to meet them. Thanks to NATO intelligence, the Ukrainian army knows when Russian warplanes will take off from an airfield somewhere in Crimea and then launch anti-aircraft missiles.
Perhaps, this is why the Russian army has been dragging around Odessa for half a month, making only appearances and not landing. It can be seen that the landing operation has become an extremely complex and dangerous task. Although the cruiser "Moscow" was dispatched, it was impossible to ensure the completion of the mission. What does it take?
Obviously, in order to suppress the well-equipped and highly mobile Coastal Defense Units of the Ukrainian Army, aviation and aerial reconnaissance means are needed. At this time, if there is an aircraft carrier sweep, then it is best for the army to land directly on the shore.
However, the Russian Navy does not yet have a single amphibious landing ship, and the only aircraft carrier is being repaired. That is why the Russians have not landed near Odessa for nearly two weeks.