https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/ukraine-the-situation-september-12-2022/

"Ukrainian forces have continued their advance south/southeast down the M03 roadway and have reached Izium. Some fighting continues while the majority of forces facing the Ukrainian advance were light-armored DPR units.

Russian counterattacks have been limited to air and artillery strikes. Some regular Russian reserves and reinforcements have reportedly been moved into Oskil (10 kilometers east of Izium) to assist in the retreat.

The loss of Izium is critical to Russian operations in the Donbas salient. With it, Russian operations between Izium and Sloviansk, and those around Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Barvinkove now must end and those forces must fall back towards the eastern part of the salient.
....
What the immediate Russian response to the military setback indicates is a different matter altogether. There was some reinforcement of the Donbas front.

But most significantly, there was a first-ever series of massed air and missile attacks on major cities in eastern Ukraine that have caused large-scale blackouts, water systems failures and other infrastructure failures.

Russia has concluded that it is now in a direct war with the US, that this is now an American war. The boundaries had been pushed all along. But the mass delivery of US heavy artillery has pushed the situation into the grey zone. But the Kharkiv offensive directly involved US military personnel in critical line functions."

On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 11:46:09 PM UTC+8, ltlee1 wrote:
> https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/ukraine-the-situation-september-12-2022/
>
> "Ukrainian forces have continued their advance south/southeast down the M03 roadway and have reached Izium. Some fighting continues while the majority of forces facing the Ukrainian advance were light-armored DPR units.
>
> Russian counterattacks have been limited to air and artillery strikes. Some regular Russian reserves and reinforcements have reportedly been moved into Oskil (10 kilometers east of Izium) to assist in the retreat.
>
> The loss of Izium is critical to Russian operations in the Donbas salient.. With it, Russian operations between Izium and Sloviansk, and those around Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Barvinkove now must end and those forces must fall back towards the eastern part of the salient.
> ...
> What the immediate Russian response to the military setback indicates is a different matter altogether. There was some reinforcement of the Donbas front.
>
> But most significantly, there was a first-ever series of massed air and missile attacks on major cities in eastern Ukraine that have caused large-scale blackouts, water systems failures and other infrastructure failures.
>
> Russia has concluded that it is now in a direct war with the US, that this is now an American war. The boundaries had been pushed all along. But the mass delivery of US heavy artillery has pushed the situation into the grey zone. But the Kharkiv offensive directly involved US military personnel in critical line functions."

It is an American war with, and not Ukraine war. US provided many especially HIMAR weapons to hit at the eastern occupied side of Ukraine. Russia will not sit back but will will take appropriate measures to retaliate back. This is even more casualties will arise from both sides.

On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 6:32:30 PM UTC, stoney wrote:
> On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 11:46:09 PM UTC+8, ltlee1 wrote:
> > https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/ukraine-the-situation-september-12-2022/
> >
> > "Ukrainian forces have continued their advance south/southeast down the M03 roadway and have reached Izium. Some fighting continues while the majority of forces facing the Ukrainian advance were light-armored DPR units.
> >
> > Russian counterattacks have been limited to air and artillery strikes. Some regular Russian reserves and reinforcements have reportedly been moved into Oskil (10 kilometers east of Izium) to assist in the retreat.
> >
> > The loss of Izium is critical to Russian operations in the Donbas salient. With it, Russian operations between Izium and Sloviansk, and those around Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Barvinkove now must end and those forces must fall back towards the eastern part of the salient.
> > ...
> > What the immediate Russian response to the military setback indicates is a different matter altogether. There was some reinforcement of the Donbas front.
> >
> > But most significantly, there was a first-ever series of massed air and missile attacks on major cities in eastern Ukraine that have caused large-scale blackouts, water systems failures and other infrastructure failures.
> >
> > Russia has concluded that it is now in a direct war with the US, that this is now an American war. The boundaries had been pushed all along. But the mass delivery of US heavy artillery has pushed the situation into the grey zone. But the Kharkiv offensive directly involved US military personnel in critical line functions."
> It is an American war with, and not Ukraine war. US provided many especially HIMAR weapons to hit at the eastern occupied side of Ukraine. Russia will not sit back but will will take appropriate measures to retaliate back. This is even more casualties will arise from both sides.

In the absence of US involvement, Putin will not really lose. Offensive may become more
difficult but defending the already occupied territory should be unproblematic given co-
operating Ukrainian/Russians inside the occupied region and the short supply line.

But if the US is actively involved, the issues become how far the US wants to push and to
what extent Zelenskyy and his supporters are willing to follow US order?