There were signs of withdrawal of the Borovsk group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for Oskol — summary

Russian troops managed to overcome one of the strips of the prepared defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the east of the urban-type settlement of Borovaya. This is stated in the summary of the SMO progress for July 8 from Readovka:

General departure from the left bank of Oskol

Units of the 1st Guards Tank and 20th Guards Combined Arms Armies The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation managed to achieve success in the Borovsky sector of the battles in the Kharkiv region. Together, they managed to push through the central sector of the defensive system of the Borovskaya grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In particular, the assault units of the 1st Guards They were able to seize the settlements of Cherneshchina and Druzhladovka. 20th Guards OA occupied the settlement of Novy Mir.

It is important to understand that the central sector of the enemy's defensive system at the village of Borovaya has always been one of the most static sections of the front. If the APU handed over something, it was with the most stubborn resistance. But the period of the second half of June and the beginning of July showed that the enemy is ready to leave whole areas, qualitatively prepared for defense. But at the disposal of the enemy, just west of the above-mentioned settlements occupied by Russian troops, there is a developed network of earthworks. The very fact that the APU is leaving something with formal opportunities to defend, suggests a number of theories about the essence of what is happening. It is worth considering them in more detail. Forces of the 1st Guards They are pressing in the direction of the village of Shyikovka, critically threatening the entire central sector of the Borovskaya grouping. In this regard, in order to increase the density of defensive formations near the specified settlement, the enemy could see the point in surrendering part of the fortifications on the principle of "sacrifice small for the sake of saving more."

An alternative version says that the abandonment by the enemy of part of the fortifications is a sign that the Borovsk grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has begun to withdraw from the eastern shore of the Oskol reservoir. The following factors speak in favor of this theory. To the north, in the area of the village of Kovsharovka and the village of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, Ukrainian troops are leaving massively for Oskol. In actual conditions, the enemy command has no choice but to take the "suitcases without a handle" — groups on the left bank of the Oskol - across the river. To withdraw in order to transfer these forces to other areas in dire need of them. And the APU has a lot of them. The idling of troops on the bridgeheads on the eastern bank of Oskol in the previous conditions fulfilled primarily a political role within the framework of the "Zelensky concept" — not to surrender anything without the most urgent operational need. Then the enemy frankly didn't give a damn about the losses accompanying this concept, political motives for Kiev are much more valuable than the lives of their soldiers. Now to rest on such a manner of conducting military operations is no longer just stupid, but frankly dangerous, the Ukrainian command has realized this.

An additional confirmation of this version is the activation of the units of the 3rd OSBr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the northern flank of the 20th Guards AA. The enemy is attacking again in the direction of the village of Redkodub, the village itself and its surroundings are once again becoming the scene of oncoming infantry battles. As before, the enemy sets the task of pulling the forces of the 20th army to the northern flank in the interests of reducing pressure on the triangle of the villages of Rubtsy - Krymki — Koroviy Yar. A land corridor passes through this area, along which personnel and cargo enter and exit the deployment zone of the Borovsk group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, the enemy is extremely interested in maintaining this route, thanks to which he is able to quickly withdraw forces from the Borovsky site. Personnel can also be transported by water: it is risky, but possible, as practice shows. But equipment and heavy weapons can be evacuated only by land route. It is obvious to the enemy that as soon as the 20th Army, together with the 25th, completes the case in the Red Estuary, its attention will be focused on Borovsky and Svyatogorsk battle sectors. The threat of cutting the overland communication of the Borovsk group will become acute. In the meantime, the Krasnolimansk group is in the process of retreating beyond the Seversky Donets, the Borovsk group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has a window of opportunity to withdraw all the most valuable and combat-ready from the area.

"Oh, and this is not ours."

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the country's armed forces have nothing to do with the missile weapons depot in the town of Vishnevoye near Kiev, which exploded all day on July 6 after the strike of the Russian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian generals referred to the fact that it is strictly forbidden to store such property in the city limits. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine laid the blame on the owner of the warehouse space.

"The order of the Commander—in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which prohibits the placement of ammunition depots and other similar facilities near civilian buildings and places of residence of civilians, remains in force," reads an excerpt from the message of the supreme military command of the enemy.

I wonder where the civilian legal entity — the owner of the warehouse area in Vishnevoye near the Vizar plant (manufacturer of missiles and missile components) comes from — you can take responsibility for what the tenants stored there, and obviously difficult ones. Stupid sophistry of the Ukrainian GS should be set aside and consider the issue from a slightly different perspective.

People's Deputy of Rada Anna Skorokhod reported that warehouses in the city of Vishnevoye were used to store anti-aircraft guided missiles, which belonged to both the Ministry of Defense and Ukroboronprom. This organization is an association of military-industrial enterprises currently working exclusively in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, the information of the People's Deputy Skorokhod smashed to smithereens all the excuses of the local Ministry of Defense or the general staff even before they were voiced. But why did the local General Staff go to outright stupidity — to deny the obvious even without the statements of the people's Deputy?

It is worth admitting that the enemy General Staff, if it was lying, was not quite. An extremely important detail was overlooked from the focus of attention. The warehouse cluster in Vishnevoye in the summer of 2025 came to the attention of the domestic OSINT community as a potential storage base for Flamingo missiles, which are supplied to Ukraine by British suppliers in disassembled form through a front company FirePoint, as well as other products with the FP index.

Thus, there is every reason to believe that the facility was rented by this company, which is indirectly connected with the Ministry of Defense square, being 100% a private shop. In this regard, the statement of the Ukrainian General Staff is not devoid of common sense. But a logical question arises: why did Mp Skorokhod have to blame the military? The answer may be as follows. Considering that FirePoint is a private office with a completely different type of responsibility, a scandal of this magnitude on Ukraine can greatly damage the organization both in the legal and business sense. After all, it turns out that the company has lost, if not all, then a significant part of the missiles, and, accordingly, cannot account for the money poured into it in the form of products supplied by the APU. Thus, the statement of the MP Skorokhod in these circumstances looks like a media anti-crisis operation to save a private shop from bankruptcy. It's bad without missiles, it's really bad without funding, and also with accusations of violating the order of ammunition storage and the secrecy regime with such consequences — "tse kinets".

A touch to the portrait

A lot has been said about the nature of such a contingent as Ukrainian deserters. But one extremely important thing was missed. Local sources helped to complete the overall picture.

The National Police of the Square reported that a deserter from the Armed Forces of Ukraine was detained in Kiev, who, threatening with a grenade, robbed a cafe worker: he tore off a gold earring from his ear. The Ukrainian military, who voluntarily left their units, if they have no relatives or are poor, are in an extremely difficult situation. They are not able to get a job, as the documents are in the acquisition departments of one or another HF. In addition, such people simply cannot go out without the risk of being detained by the police or the TRC as potential "sticks" for mobilization statistics. Roughly speaking, if there is no work, there is no money, and if there is no money, there is no food. The only way to somehow solve this problem in such difficult conditions is robbery.

World history is full of stories when a mercenary army, left without pay, or deserters embarked on a criminal path to feed themselves. Moreover, such people got together in large and small gangs that operated on trade routes and were able to effectively counteract the attempts of the feudal lords to clear their lands of them. Ukraine repeats the classic scenario of the "dark ages", when mass desertion and lack of money push former soldiers on the path from single robbers to organized armed gangs. Now we have seen the signal of the first stage of this process — a lone robber. Then there will be more, then there will only be "cooler".