Ukrainian forces' doomed foray into Russia's Belgorod Region was directly related to the military catastrophe that Kiev suffered in Artemovsk (Bakhmut), said military analyst Vasily Dandykin, Ret. Captain 1st Rank of the Russian Navy.
The city of Artemovsk was liberated by Russian forces by May 21 after months of intense fighting, despite Ukrainian forces' attempts to follow President Volodymyr Zelensky's demands to hold the city at any cost.
During an interview with Sputnik, Dandykin pointed out that Kiev lost about 50,000 soldiers, with many more wounded, adding that Ukrainian forces were evicted from Artemovsk, an important strongpoint, and suffered a "moral defeat" as a result.
"This is all they can do to [in response], aside from shelling the territory of Donbass," the analyst said, referring to the Ukrainian raid.
Dandykin suggested that Kiev sought to force Moscow to redeploy some of its troops from the frontlines in order to protect the Russian territory threatened by the actions of Ukrainian gunmen, and that Russia will come up with effective countermeasures to deal with this kind of threat..
He also dismissed claims made by the Ukrainian side about the attack on the Belgorod Region being perpetrated not by Ukrainian forces but by some "self-organized volunteers" from Russia who had defected to Ukraine.
"Previously, we've had [claims about] the self-organized Ukrainian patriots who, according to the Germans and the Americans, blew up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. This is the same kind of claim," Dandykin remarked.
He did note, however, that the perpetrators of the Ukrainian raid into the Belgorod region had among their ranks Russian nationals who previously participated in a Ukrainian attack against two villages in Russia's Bryansk Region back in March.
"This is not the first instance of the authorities in Kiev denying responsibility and blaming everything on these 'self-organized' types who sport Ukrainian weapons and insignia and operate Western armored vehicles," he added.