When you look back now to the start of May when the Russian Forces were advancing on Kharkov looking to lay siege and get ready for a prolonged battle for the city some things are starting to make sense.
In their way were these guys, the 'Kraken' unit:
The Kraken unit operates somewhat in a gray zone — a force that answers to the Defense Ministry but is not part of Ukraine's armed forces.
www.stripes.com
It was all looking like a major fight was about to happen then strangely the Russian Forces were ordered to pull back around May 15th or so, this lead to Ukraine smelling a victory, and here's where i think they made the big mistake, they left Kharkov to pursue the Russians who kept "retreating"
This made the Kraken unit now out in the open countryside and vulnerable to Russian artillery and daily bombardment. Eventually the losses started to mount up, the Russian Defence Ministry in one of their daily reports stated that in June
"Attack launched by Russian artillery near Pitomnik (Kharkov region) has resulted in the elimination of up to 100 militants from Kraken Nazi group and about 10 units of combat equipment. Commanders of the militants have decided to abandon the positions and to withdraw the rest of this unit to Kharkov.
...
High-precision attacks launched by Russian Aerospace Forces have resulted in the elimination of 4 command posts, including those of Kharkov-1 and Kharkov-2 Territorial Defence battalions near Kharkov, as well as a training base of mercenaries deployed near Nikolayev."
All of this means that the Kraken unit who were defending Kharkov fell for the trap and chased the Russians too far away from the city subjecting themselves to getting wiped out and suffering serious losses, now the Russians are looking likely to engage in a 'pincer' move with a third arm possible from the south-east from the Izium area.
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The next few weeks will tell a lot...