ISW: Russia Redeploys Troops To Attack Kharkiv

The northern grouping of troops is being formed.

The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its report notes that reports on the redeployment of the Russian airborne battalion from the southern front to the Kursk region indicate that Russia continues to build up the northern grouping. This group can again attack the northeast of Ukraine, including Kharkiv. However, according to ISW, Russia does not yet have the forces to storm Kharkiv in this direction.

ISW analysts, citing Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets and a Russian milblogger, report that recently a battalion from the 76th (Pskov) Airborne Division was transferred to the Kursk region from the front in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Mashovets believes that the northern grouping of Russia can number about 50,000 troops. More than 31,000 are concentrated in the Belgorod region, more than 10,000 in the Kursk region and more than 8,000 in the Bryansk region.

Mashovets claims that Russian troops for the sake of disguise are located at stations in the Kursk region, and then sent on their own to Belgorod, closer to Kharkiv.

Earlier, many observers noted that recently the Russians have intensified strikes on Kharkiv and the northeastern regions as a whole, as well as aerial reconnaissance in this region.

"The Russian army is reportedly forming and preparing a northern grouping of units of the Leningrad Military District for operations primarily on the operational direction Belgorod — Kharkiv," the ISW summarizes.

"ISW still believes that the Russian army does not have enough forces to capture the city [Kharkiv], but the Russian offensive operations against Kharkiv or Sumy are delayed and will link the Ukrainian units with other, more important sections of the front," the analysts of the American institute write.