There are no simple answers to difficult questions. That's why I can't explain why Russian forces are entering the city in armored vehicles up to 5 km from the front line. But it was already visible by the end of summer that things were going wrong in this section of the front.
Because back in June-July, as in late spring, we were giving the Russians a proper fight. They quickly abandoned their attacks using vehicles after losing more of their armor, so they started pushing forward in groups of 10 people in the morning, afternoon, and evening at the same point.
We tried to eliminate them on approach. When that wasn't possible, our infantry engaged and was quite effective. The basic things were clear, basic issues were being addressed, and words like "stable" and "controlled" weren't just empty talk.
Since I only saw the picture from my level, it's not for me to decide what led to this, but in recent months this direction resembled chaos. With no continuous defensive line, with a broken front, with Russian forces infiltrating our rear areas in groups of 1-2 people...
Of course, you can't control everything, especially when the enemy's soldier motivation is either you sit in a trench and move forward, or you get eliminated. Wounds aren't a reason for them to retreat. Even with non-functioning limbs, with eyes shot out - they weren't given permission to withdraw from their position.
And this continued for weeks and months. They pushed forward, infiltrated, dug holes and stayed put. Then they were either eliminated or taken prisoner. Probably not many of them survived the summer-autumn offensive campaign in the forest near Kupyansk, but they did their job...
The enemy in this direction had the advantage, had the forces, had the infantry, and devised motivation for that infantry, many of whom were convicts or types who served less time on contract than our groups spent rotating in the forest (a true story). We didn't have any of that there.
The result is logical. More precisely, this isn't even the result yet, and not even the first warning bells, but rather powerful strikes of the bell...
What the enemy planned to do in the Kupyansk-Borova area became clear around the end of spring. In summer, they had their first tangible successes.
As of autumn, the results of tactical scale are already visible. We'll see if the plans will become the finale.