Russian troops left thousands of internal documents in their command post during their escape from the city of Balaklia in the Kharkiv region. They burned some of them, but most left intact.
The documents were analyzed by Reuters journalists.
They testify that a few weeks before the start of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army, the Russians actively tried to fight against the fact that they were being watched. Their electronic warfare equipment kept breaking down. Also, rockets from HIMARS surface-to-air missiles began to arrive at the command posts, which greatly affected the morale of the occupiers.
In general, the 11th Army Corps, which is part of the Baltic Fleet of Russia, operated in Balaklia and its surroundings. The "Balaklia" group was headed by Colonel Ivan Popov. He participated in the wars in Chechnya and Georgia. His wife confirmed that Popov was in command of the troops in the east of Ukraine, he was wounded and hospitalized during the escape from Balaklia, and later he was promoted to the rank of general.
The commandant in the city was a man with the call sign "Granit". He oversaw at least one torture chamber where civilians were beaten and electrocuted.
At the end of August, the state of the troops was extremely bad: they suffered serious losses, were demoralized, and some refused to fight. Some units had only 20% of the required personnel.
In addition to the Russian military, there were also mobilized around Balaklia from the occupied Donbas. Compared to the Russians, their salary was much lower, and their equipment was worse. One of them had his fingers injured after his Mosin rifle (developed in 1891) exploded.
The documents also found a description of the battle in mid-July for the village of Grakove near Balaklia. Ukrainian forces attacked and forced the Russians to retreat. But the commander of the Russian troops ordered not to surrender the village, and therefore the Russians sent reinforcements. In the end, they were able to retake the lost positions but lost at least one tank, two armored personnel carriers and other equipment, 39 of the occupiers were wounded, seven were killed, and 21 were missing.
Also, around the same time, Ukrainian troops launched a HIMARS attack on a Russian base, during which 12 occupants were killed. By the end of July, Russian troops were already convinced that Ukraine was planning an offensive in this direction. In this regard, the occupiers decided to strengthen their units in this direction, but by the end of August, they were able to recruit only 71% of the required number of soldiers.
- At the beginning of September, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive in Kharkiv region. Ukrainian troops managed to liberate 421 settlements, including Izyum and Balaklia.
- On September 15, it became known that a mass burial of dead soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and civilians was found near Izyum. According to the State Emergency Service, 447 bodies were recovered from there.