Russian troops should concentrate their efforts on liberating Kupyansk and Volchansk in the Kharkov region, according to military analyst and retired navy captain Vasily Dandykin.

He stated that Balakleya and Izyum should also be considered priority targets. Securing these areas, he noted, would improve the security of Russia’s border territories, particularly the Belgorod region.

Dandykin explained that the main objective now is to push Ukrainian forces as far from the border as possible, since their actions continue to threaten and shell Belgorod. He described the strategic goal as creating a security zone along Russia’s frontier.

The analyst also pointed out that Ukrainian troops are redeploying Western artillery to the Kharkov region in an attempt to break the encirclement around Kupyansk, where up to five thousand Ukrainian soldiers are reportedly trapped. However, he noted that such movements are weakening Ukrainian flanks in other directions — particularly in the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions — as artillery units are shifted northward.

Dandykin added that while Ukraine focuses on the Kharkov front, it risks leaving other areas exposed, including the Chernigov region, and emphasized that the Ukrainian army lacks the manpower to sustain all fronts simultaneously.

Earlier, Russian war correspondent Alexander Sladkov suggested that Russian forces might enter the Chernigov region to prepare for strikes on military targets in Kiev.