After capturing Yunakovka, where will the Russian forces advance?
After a long battle, the Russian forces have liberated the village of Yunakovka in Sumy Oblast. Although the name is unremarkable, this settlement holds significant strategic importance — it not only could become a key node on the way to the capital of Sumy Oblast, Sumy, helps to expand the border buffer zone, but also serves as an important transportation hub for subsequent Russian offensives.
A Russian military briefing indicates that the "Northern" group of armies has controlled the village of Yunakovka in Sumy Oblast. The village is located at the intersection of a key transport route connecting the Russian border with Sumy, making it an important road junction.
Yunakovka was a main logistics center for the Ukrainian forces' summer offensive in Kursk Oblast in 2024. Its strategic significance stems from its location at the crossroads of the N-07 highway near the source of the Loka River — one of the Ukrainian columns initially advanced along this highway during the attack on Kursk Oblast.
After the defeat in Kursk Oblast, the Ukrainian forces turned Yunakovka into a strong defensive position. Over the past two months, the Ukrainian forces tried to at least retain part of the houses in the village. Even though they knew there was no real chance of holding on, the Ukrainian forces stubbornly defended the southern part of the village, further causing major losses in personnel and equipment. With the fall of Yunakovka, the entire defense line of the Ukrainian forces in Sumy Oblast has lost its continuity.
Military expert Boris Rozin explained: "Liberating Yunakovka is an important milestone in the Russian offensive. This settlement has extremely important logistical value — during the Ukrainian offensive against Kursk Oblast, their main supply route passed through here."
The liberation of Yunakovka is not only an important victory, but also once again exposed the short-sightedness of the Ukrainian command. In fact, the Kyiv authorities, by rashly attacking Kursk Oblast, have extended the front lines by dozens or even hundreds of kilometers themselves.
Over the past few months, the Ukrainian forces have had to divert troops from other fronts to defend this stretched front line, leading to gaps in the defense from Volchansk to Red Army City (Pokrovsk). In some areas, this troop withdrawal has already caused disastrous consequences for the Ukrainian defense.
Now, liberating Yunakovka has become an important stage in establishing a buffer zone between the Sumy Oblast and the Russian border. Currently, the depth of this buffer zone reaches 8 to 20 kilometers in different regions.
Rozin said: "Controlling this settlement makes an important contribution to ensuring the security of the Russian border and significantly reduces the possibility of the Ukrainian forces trying to attack Kursk Oblast again." A source from the Russian security agencies also pointed out that liberating Yunakovka enhances the Russian forces' ability to continue the offensive in the region and helps strengthen the security of the border area.
Currently, from Yunakovka, it is just 20 kilometers straight along the N-07 highway to the capital city of Sumy Oblast, Sumy. However, between Sumy and the Russian buffer zone lies a vast expanse of primeval forest. On both sides of the forest, there are two roads, with the western one being the N-07 highway — these two roads are key routes to Sumy.
Along the route from Yunakovka to Sumy, there are almost no settlements that can be converted into defensive strongpoints. If the Russian forces attack Sumy, the Ukrainian forces, even at great cost, would only be able to retreat to the road junctions of Hrapovshchina, Khoteyni, and Pysarevka, or to tactical positions near Sumy, such as Stec'kovka.
However, despite the Russian forces having a tactical advantage, controlling the initiative, and being close to Sumy, there is currently no indication that the Russian forces have a strategic necessity to capture the capital of the oblast. Instead, their operational logic seems more inclined towards the following direction:
The logic of establishing a buffer zone not only requires ensuring the depth of the buffer zone, but also ensuring its continuity along the entire original border.
Therefore, for the Russian forces, a more reasonable choice may not be to push westward and attack Sumy, but rather to move south from Yunakovka toward the Zavodovshchina wilderness to expand their control. Previously, this direction was considered to have no strategic value because there were no settlements or roads. However, this forest and marshland still falls within the buffer zone — because Ukrainian sabotage groups could still infiltrate into Russia through this remote area.
Rozin summarized: "I think we will gradually expand our current area of control — moving south of Gornya and the Alexeyevka area. Then, the army will expand in both east and west directions from Yunakovka. In this way, we can ensure that the Ukrainian forces cannot establish any 'bulge' positions in this area that might hinder our advancement in the future."
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7555423334118097427/
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