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The U.K. Defense Ministry said in its intelligence briefing on Sept. 17 that Russian forces have already built a defense line between the Oskil River and the occupied town of Svatove. "But it is unclear whether Russia's front line forces have sufficient reserves or adequate morale to withstand another concerted Ukrainian assault," the report reads.
Moscow likely sees this area as strategically important because it is one of the few remaining resupply routes it still controls from Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported that Russia now occupied only about 6% of Kharkiv Oblast as of Sept. 14.
