Putin faces wave of criticism over Russian pullout from northern Ukraine

The Ministry of Defending of the United Kingdom has assured this Tuesday that Russia could need years to be able to “rebuild” the Army that it had assigned to face a hypothetical war against NATO troops. In the last part of Military Intelligence, Defense reveals that “elements of the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have withdrawn from the region of Kharkiv during the past week, they belonged to the Russian military regiment called the First Guards Tank Army, which is subordinate to the Western Military District.” That regiment, according to the report posted today on Twitter, “already suffered severe casualties in the first phase of the invasion and it had not been fully reconstituted before the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkov”. It is also “one of the most prestigious regiments in Russia, assigned to the defense of Moscow and destined to carry out a counter-offensive in the event of a war.” with NATO forces.” Now that it has been “severely downgraded,” Russian conventional forces designed to strike back at the Western alliance “have been seriously weakened” and “will likely take years to rebuild their capability.” The report notes that this comes at a time when Ukraine has regained part of the northeast territory in the last days.

Latest Defense Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 13 September 2022

Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/BYZhjLmtmf

?? #StandWithUkraine ?? pic.twitter.com/r0Cf3z3wab

— Ministry of Defense ?? (@DefenceHQ) September 13, 2022

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised this Monday the advances of the Ukrainian troops in the northeast of the country that have forced the withdrawal of the Russian forces. “Clearly we have seen a significant advance on the part of the Ukrainians, particularly in the northeast,” he detailed during a press conference. Thus, he has argued that Ukraine’s results on the front with Russia are the product of the support provided by the US and Western allies, although he has described “the extraordinary courage and resistance of the Ukrainians” as the “greatest factor that makes the difference”. However, he has stressed that it is “too early to predict where this is going”. “The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine, as well as equipment, weapons and ammunition.”

Russian troops have left stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkov region, reports the Kyiv Independent. One analyst has estimated that more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled mortars and supply trucks, have been lost between 7 and 11 September. In addition, Russian military commanders have stopped sending new units to the neighboring country after the counteroffensive, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “The current situation in the theater of operations and the distrust in higher command have forced large numbers of volunteers to categorically reject the prospect of serving under combat conditions.”

The withdrawal of Russian troops from northern Ukraine has not been well received by United Russia, which includes regional leaders as well as retired military officers, bloggers and propagandists of the kremlin, all very critical of the progress of the military campaign. As happened last April with the withdrawal from the outskirts of kyiv, the Russian Ministry of Defense argued that it decided to withdraw its forces from several locations in the region of Kharkiv in order to regroup them and strengthen their positions in the donbas. Explanations fell on deaf ears. First, because the withdrawal coincides with the successful counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Army in the south and north of the country, supported by Western missile systems. And second, because the Russian Army has achieved hardly any battlefield victories since taking Lisichansk and take control of the luhansk region in early July.