Analysts of the German edition of Der Spiegel note that the offensive of the occupation army of the Russian Federation in the border areas of the Kharkiv region, although it was expected, nevertheless turned out to be successful, which was contributed by three problems of Ukraine.
Why did the AFU fail to prevent the advance of Russian army in the Kharkiv region
Analysts of the publication note that the success of the Russian invaders in the border areas of the Kharkiv region cannot be explained by the element of unexpectedness because they knew in advance about the preparations for the offensive in Ukraine.
The DIU previously stated that the attack began according to a known schedule, about which all necessary authorities were informed.
According to military expert Gustav Gressel from the European Council on International Relations, no later than May 4 — six days before the start of the Russian offensive — it was clear that an attack was inevitable, the publication said.
It is noted that the prerequisite for the victorious advance of the Russian Federation's army's victorious advance in the Kharkiv region's border areas was the US ban on Ukraine on the use of Western weapons on Russian territory.
It does not allow the Ukrainian military to interfere with the preparation of the occupation army of the Russian Federation for the invasion of the Kharkiv region across the border from the neighbouring Belgorod region.
Having American HIMARS missile launchers, the Ukrainians could stop the enemy before the start of the attack. But since the Russians were stationed outside the Ukrainian territory, they were safe, the authors of the material emphasise.
Why was Ukraine unable to build defence lines in border areas of the Kharkiv region?
Another omission was the lack of necessary lines of defence.
Analysts note that three defence lines, each 2,000 km long, were to be built along the front line.
According to the government, about 800 million euros were allocated for these purposes. Only in April, President Zelenskyy inspected the construction of defense structures in the Kharkiv region. But Ukrainian officer Denys Yaroslavskyi from the city of Vovchansk said in his post on the Facebook social network: "There were not even any first line of defense and mines," the publication emphasises.
The authors of the material emphasized that although the head of the Kharkiv RMA , Oleg SynIegubov, has already requested clarifications from the subcontractors who participated in the construction of defence lines in the Kharkiv region, in this case, we are talking only about the third line of defence, built by private companies and to which Russian invaders have not even arrived yet.
The front lines, on the other hand, are built by engineer troops or completely ordinary units.
According to one of the senior Ukrainian military officials, the first line is 1.5 to 5 or 6 kilometres from the border, so it cannot be made concrete.
According to him, a shortage of mines should also be placed along the border.
However, in some cases, even the most uncomplicated installations have straightforward packing at the border.
Thus, military blogger Yuriy Butusov wrote from Vovchansk that he did not see any trenches or shelters there, although the city is located five kilometers from the Russian border.
The Ukrainians have enough soldiers to man the front line of defense. However, unlike the Russians, they lack units to deploy behind them. That's why breaches in the defense are more difficult to eliminate, explains military analyst Franz-Stephan Gadi.
