Military expert explained the mysterious disappearance of Leopard and Challenger tanks from the front

“The enemy changed his plans and connected the offensive with Bakhmut”

The stormtroopers of the PMC “Wagner” are fighting in the opposite direction, freeing the last quarters of Bakhmut (Artemovsk). Nevertheless, it is Bakhmut that can become the main direction of the long-announced offensive for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So says a military expert, veteran of military intelligence, Hero of Russia Colonel in the reserve Rustem Klupov. He told “MK” about the warning signs and the cunning plan of the enemy.

In recent days, there have been many reports that the Bakhmut epic is about to end, that the fighting is already on the outskirts. However, the “Wagnerites” asked the bloggers not to rush things. It remains to drive the enemy out of the last skyscrapers in the “Airplane” area, but this is not easy to do because of the success of the enemy, who does not spare his reserves and attacks on the flanks.

After the complete liberation of the city, fierce fighting will not only continue, but, most likely, will smoothly turn into a massive offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Rustem Klupov believes. According to him, the enemy has gathered most of his reserves and seems to have changed the direction of the main attack, which many believed Melitopol.

– From a military-political point of view, in order to achieve a resounding success, it is most expedient for the enemy to strike the main blow to the south – to cut the land supply line of Crimea, create a threat to encircle our group near Kherson, etc. But at the moment the situation tells a different story. The enemy gathered 80% of his reserves near Bakhmut. The Ukrainians have already deployed ten brigades there – this is 30% of the reserves that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have prepared for the counteroffensive. Another 50% of the reserve is at a certain distance. And so far it is not clear whether we are still forcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine to draw forces to Bakhmut or this is an element of their plan, the expert explained, noting that the combat potential of the pulled together brigades is “not very high.”

According to the expert, it looks very suspicious that there are not a large number of armored vehicles near Bakhmut. The same German Leopard tanks and British Challenger tanks, which are not yet visible at the front, are just preparing for the main attack. As soon as Western armored vehicles appear en masse at the front, the expert is sure, it will be possible to determine the exact plans of the enemy for the offensive.

– The enemy’s reserves are hidden, most likely, they are in the “fog of war”. It is possible that our intelligence has complete information, but there is no data on enemy military equipment in open sources. In fact, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to divert our attention from the main areas in this way,” Klupov said. He noted that the slight success of the enemy on the same flanks in Bakhmut and other directions is not an offensive.

– Under Bakhmut they were able to advance in a southerly direction, under Soledar they were also able to achieve some success. But these are not the actions that are called a big offensive. I do not rule out that in this way they are trying to pull all our forces under Bakhmut, so that later they can launch a real counteroffensive, for example, in the southern direction.

According to the expert, the Russian army is doing everything to destroy the plans of the enemy and prevent him from breaking through our defenses.

“This is a massive strike, disabling air defenses, attacks on warehouses,” it said. – Just one strike on a warehouse in Khmelnitsky caused enormous damage, because ammunition was stored there just for the counteroffensive. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also now have a very difficult situation with fuel. On various axes, we are doing everything possible to weaken or disrupt the offensive as much as possible. Of course, the best scenario for us is to drag the enemy into a “bag”, 15-20 kilometers deep, force them to draw all their reserves into it, and then go on a decisive counteroffensive ourselves.