According to the media on the morning of June 30, the battle in Vovchansk was extremely tragic, the competition between Russia and Ukraine was fierce, and the 57th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army was engaged in fierce street battles with the Russian army, with heavy casualties. The soldiers of both sides fought to the death in this small city, and every brick and stone and every piece of rubble witnessed this bloody battle. Explosions and gunfire turned the small city of Vovchansk into ruins. Meanwhile, Russia's 83rd Airborne Division announced a strategic withdrawal after three weeks of intense fighting in Vovchansk, Ukraine. Under continuous sieges, the division suffered serious casualties and shortages of supplies, which led to a demoralization and the refusal of some of the soldiers to continue fighting. Some of the surviving soldiers stayed at the chemical plant for two weeks before finally evacuating because they couldn't stand the plight. This evacuation operation undoubtedly exposed the dire situation faced by the division in the fighting.
On the road of the retreat of the Russian army, the Ukrainian army dispatched tens of thousands of people to pursue, and the Russian army bombed with 1.5 tons of thermobaric bombs to open the way for the retreating army, 7,000 Ukrainian troops were killed, and the 2,700-degree temperature burned cruelly. Located in the north of Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast, this small city with a population of only 10,000 is the subject of a fierce confrontation between Ukrainian and Russian forces due to its geographical location and strategic importance. Vovchansk is strategically located close to the Russian-Ukrainian border, the gateway to Kharkiv Oblast and its southern regions, and controlling it means controlling a key passage to Kharkiv and the interior of Ukraine. Ukraine's defense system in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has always relied on the control of key nodes, and Vovchansk is self-evident as such a node.
Kharkiv Oblast is an important industrial and transportation hub in eastern Ukraine, and defending it will not only protect Ukraine's economic lifeline from destruction, but also provide a solid ground for the defense of the north and east. The victory or loss of Vovchansk is not only related to victory or defeat at the tactical level, but also to the stability of the entire eastern front of Ukraine. The Russian army showed a strong superiority in forces in the offensive on Vovchansk, and the Ukrainian defenders looked extremely difficult when attacking the Russian army of 30,000.
The Ukrainian side has deployed about 10,000 troops in Vovchansk, and these defenders have the difficult task of not only defending against an enemy who is far outnumbered by them, but also dealing with the overwhelming superiority of the Russian army in equipment and firepower. The Koros army was well-armed with a large number of armored vehicles, heavy artillery, and aviation support, while the Ukrainian defenders were relatively poor and relied more on fortifications and guerrilla tactics. When comparing the forces and resources of the two sides, the military assistance of the United States and its allies to Ukraine cannot but be mentioned. Eric Prince has pointed out that U.S. aid plays a key role in Ukraine's defense, but it also has certain limitations.
The United States has provided Ukraine with a large number of modern weapons and equipment, including anti-tank missiles and air defense systems, which have played an important role on the battlefield and helped the Ukrainian army effectively contain the offensive momentum of the Russian army. However, aid is not a panacea, the Ukrainian army still faces great challenges in the face of a more well-equipped and large number of Russian troops, and the transportation and distribution of aid materials are often limited by the battlefield environment and the blockade of the Russian army, unable to reach the front line in time, affecting the fighting of the Ukrainian army. At the same time, Russia launched missiles to directly destroy Ukrainian air defense systems, and Russia's Iskander tactical missile system destroyed a set of S300 air defense missile systems of the Ukrainian army in Odessa. This is a tentative strike by the Russian army against Odessa. In the near future, the Russian army is likely to launch a large-scale attack, and after clearing the Odessa air defense system, Russian fighters will carpet bomb relevant targets to destroy Ukraine's anti-ship capabilities and drone strike capabilities.
Although the number of the Ukrainian army is three or four times that of the Russian army, the artillery fire of the Russian army is more than five times that of the Ukrainian army, fight slowly, consume the Ukrainian army more, and create opportunities for other fronts, such as Toretsk, Red Manli, this kind of war of attrition Ukraine will not be able to fight for long, weapons, equipment and ammunition are completely dependent on other countries to transport, and the key manpower cannot keep up, not to mention the military quality of those cannon fodder sent to the front line by Lazhuangding. On the other hand, in the two years since the start of the Russian war, the national war machine has been activated, some civilian industrial production lines have been successfully converted into military industry, and the soldiers fighting on the front line are all reservists who have signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense for money and death, which is also a characteristic of Russia's military service. However, Russia and Ukraine are tired of the long-term tug-of-war, and more importantly, there are fewer and fewer army soldiers and senior commanders with actual combat experience. It is also a wake-up call for other countries to learn from.