Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine was blitzkrieg, and in less than two days, nine villages and towns covering an area of 54 square kilometers were lost, according to Ukrainian army data. According to the Ukrainian military, the size of the Northern Army Group invested by Russia in this direction is as high as 50,000 people. At the front of the confrontation in this direction, the Ukrainian army threw 4 brigades to block the Russian offensive. These Ukrainian defense units consist of two territorial defense brigades and two national battalions (Kraken Battalion, Freikorps), totaling about 4,000 people. At the moment, Syrsky has transferred 6 battalions from the Kherson and Zaporozhye directions and transferred them to Kharkov.
Earlier on May 12, battle reports said that Russian troops had taken control of the intersection between the city of Volchansk and the farms of Volchansk and began preparations to enter the city of Volchansk. By the morning of the 13th, the Russian army posted on social media that they had almost complete control of the Volchansk region. For its part, the Ukrainian side stressed that the Russian army does not "pose a threat to ground operations" to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. But satellite reconnaissance shows that the Ukrainian army is using the Kharkiv railway station to evacuate food and industrial equipment.
NATO military experts say that with only 50,000 troops, the Russian army is not enough to pose a clear threat to the well-defended Kharkiv. The blitzkrieg of the Russian army in Kharkiv Oblast is more like a "military conspiracy". This massive offensive operation will undoubtedly make the Ukrainian military feel highly nervous, because once Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts are lost, then the Ukrainian army will be forced to move to the defense of Kyiv. To this end, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is reinforcing Kharkiv with troops from the Bakhmut and Zaporozhye directions. This will undoubtedly create a defensive hole in the above-mentioned areas.
This means that the Ukrainian military knew that Kharkiv was a "fire pit", and had to jump into it. If reinforcements are not deployed, the Russian army's "feint attack" on Kharkiv will become a "real attack". If reinforcements are provided, the Russian army will have enough troops in other directions to break through the holes in the Ukrainian army's defenses and form a strategic breakthrough. NATO has long hinted that due to insufficient mobilized troops, the Ukrainian army has no available strategic reserves to put into the Kharkiv direction, and the lack of ammunition makes the existing defenses of the Ukrainian army more fragile. At present, the largest stockpile of the Ukrainian army is only old 105-mm artillery shells.
Due to the sudden elongation of the battle front, the already stretched strength of the Ukrainian army is being further diluted. In the south of Chasov Yar, the Russian army is opening a third offensive route from Kurdyumivka, putting heavy pressure on the Ukrainian defense system of the Chasov Yar fortress. The Ukrainian army is now faced with a choice, whether to defend Chasov Yar or Kharkiv. What the NATO advisers mean is that the Russian army only wants to create a buffer zone in Kharkiv, and it is a strategic offensive against Chasov Yar, and it is inevitable.