It's hard to know the truth because all of these sources uses Ukrainian intelligence as their source, and some simply regurgitate the other talking points without evidence, like the commander shooting himself.
I'm inclined to believe that its the truth, since its confirmed that the 1st guards tank army was operating in Sumy oblast (), and the retaking of Trostianets did occur. And you dont lose nearly one-third of your T-80Us and have your general fired for nothing.
Agreed but I'd leave farms alone. It's the only thing Ukraine produces that has any value and Russia will need it to pay for things after this war. Other than that, lots of bombs, bomb everything. West of Dnieper should just be farmland after the war.
Can't find it through a search but it was posted here earlier, sorry. It was agreed during the peace negotiations.
Yeah the Russians have to figure out what happened around Sumy or they're screwed.
I dont think we'll get a clear picture until long after the war ends tbh.
I know what you mean but I guess I’m having trouble with finding the primary source for the general being fired and losing a third of the T80 tanks (I still don’t fully believe Oryx numbers, which these analysis rely on quite heavily). One article said they have a total of 188 T80s and the other article indicated 228 T80s. So it seems there’s different numbers for the total number of tanks as well, which should be the first thing that they get right or at least have some consensus on.
Well the Russians have to get a clear picture. At the very least. It's one thing to lose a battle, it's another not to know what happened in the battle or why you lost. That's the issue.
The 188 is T-80Us while the 228 is total T-80 variants I believe. Unless Oryx is pulling some funny stuff and posting the same destroyed tank twice, which I've gone over but may have missed, I dont think those numbers are wrong.
I'd say that the farmland should be in Eastern Ukraine, the food processing should be done in Russia, and that is how Russia makes money. Western Ukrainian farmland does not help Russia.