"Led to significant losses": Forbes named the main reason for the failure

To spread: repeated failures of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to overcome water obstacles have led to significant losses of the occupying army and are hindering the successful summer offensive of the Russians in 2025. The overcoming of rivers remains one of the biggest problems of the Russian army throughout the war and has a significant impact on the situation at the front, writes Forbes.

Journalists recalled how in May 2022 the Armed Forces destroyed a whole battalion-tactical group of the Russian army in one day, pushing it on an attempt to force the River Siverskyi Donets in the east. And the Dnieper played an important role in the Battle of Kherson, eventually forcing the Russians to leave the city in November 2022. The problem for the Russians was the Oskil River in Kharkiv region, which for a long time was an important border of Ukrainian defense north of Kupyansk.

Unfortunately, a significant numerical advantage in living power has provided the Russians with the opportunity to create a fairly large bridgehead on the "Ukrainian" side of the river during this year. Forcing Okecol cost the Russians significant losses. But even this relatively small river continues to create a problem in their further offensive on Kupyansk. The fact is that the troops at the bridgehead need to be provided, and even more so to continue the offensive.

In the absence of stationary bridges, this means constant losses in every attempt to transfer something across the river. "In mid-July, Russian troops tried to build a pontoon bridge through Oskil, but this attempt also failed.

Although some Russian soldiers crossed the river, the inability to transport armored units seriously limited their offensive opportunities and prevented any operational breakthrough in the northeast," Journalists emphasized that there is no obvious solution to Russia at this time, since overcoming water obstacles has always been one of the most complex and dangerous types of military operations.

"Although the Russian-Ukrainian war is often associated with the rapid introduction of new technologies, traditional challenges, such as river crossings, continue to form a battlefield. Russia's repeated failures in these operations have led to significant losses and are now a major obstacle to the success of their summer. We will remind, on July 23 a serviceman with a call sign "Mushnay" stated that Russian DRGs try to penetrate the mine "Shakhtarsky" in Pokrovsk.