It is clear that Ukraine is on the brink and nobody knows what the next step is going to look like.  The soldiers may just lay down weapons and start walking home, or, they may put their hands up, surrender and wait to be arrested, or they may keep shooting until they get shot, but this is on the brink of falling, and not only the front line.  For good housekeeping and for history, let’s look at what the Russian MOD says today.  If one sees sentences like:  “The AFU losses in this direction amounted to up to 2,475 Ukrainian troops …” in this very short time, something has to give.

Mr Putin considers that Russia is not so intent on capturing Kharkov, but more setting a “cordon sanitaire”.  https://www.rt.com/russia/597781-russia-no-plans-capture-kharkov/

I don’t know what to think about it.  A “cordon sanitaire” to fulfil what objective?  To make the Ukrainian troops run up and down trying to defend the indefensible?  Russia may as well take Kharkov – that seems more solid to me as a plan, but, what do I know?  And nobody else knows really.

And this prompted Medvedev who is not asleep at the mouth:  Medvedev warned that if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles, the borders of the Poland will become a “Sanitary Zone”. 🇵🇱🇺🇦☢️ https://t.me/Slavyangrad/98431

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation – https://t.me/mod_russia_en/13965

(11–17 May 2024)

Part I

▫️ From 11 to 17 May 2024, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 28 group strikes by high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, which hit command posts, military airfield infrastructure facilities, air defence equipment, fuel bases of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as a production and storage workshop for uncrewed surface vehicles and strike UAVs.

Moreover, the strikes also hit deployment areas of nationalist groups and foreign mercenaries.

▫️ Over the past week, the units of the Sever Group of Forces have liberated 12 settlements in Kharkov region: Borisovka, Bugrovatka, Gatishche, Glubokoye, Krasnoye, Lukyantsy, Morokhovets, Ogurtsovo, Oleynikovo, Pletenyevka, Pyulnaya, Strelechya, and continue advancing to the depth of the enemy’s defence.

▫️ The Russian troops have launched strikes at manpower and hardware of the five brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, four territorial defence brigades, and the 15th Ukrainian border detachment near Vesyoloye, Volchansk, Dergachi, Neskuchnoye, Krasnoye, and Liptsy (Kharkov region). Twenty-one counter-attacks launched by AFU assault groups were repelled close to Glubokoye, Tikhoye, and Staritsa (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 1,175 Ukrainian troops, 10 tanks, 14 armoured fighting vehicles, 45 motor vehicles, 13 MLRS combat vehicles, including six Czech-made Vampire MLRS, 26 field artillery guns, as well as five Buk and Strela-10 SAM combat vehicles.

▫️ The Zapad Group of Forces continues to occupy more advantageous lines and has inflicted fire damage on 18 brigades close to Artyomovka, Makeyevka (Lugansk People’s Republic), Kislovka, Sinkovka (Kharkov region), Yampolovka, Krasny Liman, and Torskoye (Donetsk People’s Republic).

Thirty-seven counter-attacks launched by assault groups of eight AFU brigades, as well as two National Guard brigades, were repelled close to Chervonaya Dibrova, Novoyegorovka, Stelmakhovka, Nevskoye (Lugansk People’s Republic), Berestovoye, Kislovka, and Olshana (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 960 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, nine armoured fighting vehicles, 24 motor vehicles, four Grad and Verba MLRS combat vehicles, 25 field artillery guns, of which five are U.S.-made. In addition, two ammunition depots were destroyed.

▫️ The Yug Group of Forces continue to advance into the depth of the enemy’s defence. The Group launched strikes at manpower and hardware of six assault, ten mechanised, and seven territorial defence brigades close to Andreyevka, Antonovka, Georgiyevka, Grigorovka, Kleshcheyevka, Kurdyumovka, Paraskoviyevka, and Novomikhailovka (Donetsk People’s Republic).

Nine AFU counter-attacks were repelled near Belogorovka (Lugansk People’s Republic), Razdolovka, Krasnoye, Spornoye, and Chasov Yar (Donetsk People’s Republic).

The enemy lost up to 3,725 Ukrainian troops, eight tanks, including five German-made Leopard-2A1 tanks, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, 55 motor vehicles, one Grad MLRS, 47 field artillery guns, to include 22 foreign-made ones.

Three Nota and Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations, two U.S.-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery warfare stations, and 16 field ammunition depots have been destroyed.

▫️ The Tsentr Group of Forces has liberated the settlement of Keramik (Donetsk People’s Republic), improved the situation along the front line, and defeated 14 brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and national guard brigades near Novoaleksandrovka, Yevgenovka, Karlovka, and Rozovka (Donetsk People’s Republic).

The Russian Armed Forces repelled 59 counter-attacks launched by the enemy’s assault groups close to Arkhangelskoye, Semyonovka, Ocheretino, Solovyevo, Novgorodskoye, Umanskoye, Netaylovo, and Berdychi (Donetsk People’s Republic).

Part II

The AFU losses in this direction amounted to up to 2,475 Ukrainian troops, four tanks, including one U.S.-made Abrams, 20 armoured fighting vehicles, 27 motor vehicles, and one Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 MLRS combat vehicle.

In addition, 23 field artillery guns, including five Paladin self-propelled guns and three U.S.-made M777 howitzers, were hit during counter-battery warfare.

▫️ The Vostok Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and defeated the units of three brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and three territorial defence brigades near Ugledar, Velikaya Novoselka, Vodyanoye, Vladimirovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), Chervonoye, and Dorozhyanka (Zaporozhye region).

Two counter-attacks launched by assault groups of the AFU 123rd Territorial Defence Brigade and the 21st National Guard Brigade were repelled near Staromayorskoye and Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People’s Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 965 Ukrainian troops, one tank, nine armoured fighting vehicles, 28 motor vehicles, one Grad MLRS vehicle, and two Strela-10 SAM combat vehicles.

In counter-battery warfare, 20 field artillery guns were hit, to include four Polish-made Krab self-propelled guns and four U.S.-made M777 howitzers.

▫️ The Dnepr Group of Forces liberated Rabotino (Zaporozhye region) as a result of intensive actions. They have also hit manpower and hardware of two brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 35th Marine Brigade, three territorial defence brigades, as well as three national guard brigades close to Orekhov, Verbovoye, Nesteryanka, Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region), Nikopol, Kapulovka (Dnepropetrovsk region), Zolotaya Balka, and Ivanovka (Kherson region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 265 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, 15 motor vehicles, one Czech-made Vampire MLRS launcher, 35 field artillery guns, including 14 U.S.-made M777 howitzers, as well as one Buk SAM self-propelled artillery system.

▫️ The Groups’ Missile Troops and Artillery and UAVs have neutralised four Mi-24 helicopters at a helipad, as well as 40 uncrewed surface ships at a storage depot over the past week.

In addition, one U.S.-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system battalion, ammunition and fuel depots, and aerial vehicles in parks of five military airfields were hit.

▫️ Aviation and air defence systems have shot down six MiG-29 and one Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, 31 U.S.-made ATACMS and Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles, 31 French-made Hammer guided air bombs, 15 U.S.-made HARM anti-radiation missiles, 199 HIMARS, Vampire, Grad, and Olkha projectiles, as well as 329 UAVs.

In the last 24 hours alone, 123 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs have been shot down over the territory of Crimea and the Black Sea coast of Krasnodarsky Krai.

The Black Sea Fleet destroyed 25 Ukrainian uncrewed surface vehicles in the Black Sea waters over the past day.

▫️ Over the past week, 63 Ukrainian servicemen have surrendered on the line of contact, 48 of them in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces.

▫️ In total, 601 airplanes, 274 helicopters, 24,234 unmanned aerial vehicles, 522 anti-aircraft missile systems, 16,058 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,303 MLRS combat vehicles, 9,635 field artillery and mortar guns, and 21,763 special military vehicles have been neutralised since the beginning of the special military operation.