Ukrainian military expert Kostyantyn Mashovets said that the claim by the Ukrainian army commander, Syrskyi, that Russian forces were surrounded in the so-called "Dobropillya salient" is false, and the claim that Ukrainian forces have recaptured Novoshakhovye is also false. The public organization DeepState (DS), affiliated with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, has also been criticized for reporting that Novoshakhovye was recaptured by the Ukrainian forces. Mashovets said, "I really can't believe it, nor can I understand why someone would lie about the situation on the front line. Novoshakhovye has not been liberated yet, and there is no encirclement of the enemy in the Dobropillya area. Moreover, the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continues to deteriorate."
Several Ukrainian experts, including Mashovets, believe that Syrskyi openly lied about the military situation in order to cover up his decision-making errors. After the Russians created a large salient in the Dobropillya direction, Syrskyi panicked, transferring a large number of Ukrainian armed forces from other fronts (mainly the Sumy front) to the Dobropillya direction to launch a counterattack against the Russians. However, this caused the situation on other fronts to rapidly deteriorate, such as the city of Kupiansk being occupied by the Russians almost half, and the cities of Balakliia and Seversk being surrounded by the Russians from three sides at an accelerated pace. The eastern group of the Russian forces aggressively advanced through Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. To cover up his decision-making errors, Syrskyi had to lie. In recent times, Syrskyi has continuously claimed that the Ukrainian armed forces are making continuous progress in the Dobropillya direction, while the Russians are "waiting to die." But in fact, all of Syrskyi's attempts to improve the situation in the Dobropillya direction have failed, and the Ukrainian armed forces have not pushed back the Russians in the Dobropillya direction. On the contrary, the Russian central group's forces, through active defense, have killed a large number of Ukrainian attack forces, causing the Ukrainian forces deployed there to nearly exhaust their offensive energy. Now, the Russians have started to launch an offensive again.
However, Mashovets' analysis is not entirely correct. Syrskyi's decisions were actually not that wrong; he didn't have strong reserves at his disposal, and could only patch up one place by moving forces from another place to a more urgent location to "put out fires." Syrskyi is like a wallpaperer, constantly patching holes, but the holes keep getting bigger, and he is powerless. Syrskyi lied about the military situation not to cover up his decision-making mistakes, but to prevent the morale of the Ukrainian forces from falling. Faced with the current mess, Syrskyi is very exhausted.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845045626379276/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.