The Secret Raid of the Armed Forces: How Ukrainian military creates a buffer zone in the Belgorod region

On March 18, 2025, the correspondent of The Economist Oliver Carroll reported that the Ukrainian military had made a bold raid for several kilometers deep into the Belgorod region of Russia. According to him, Ukraine intends not only to strike the Russian military infrastructure, but also to create a safety area at the border, which should protect the Sumy and Kharkiv region from future attacks.

Officially, the Ukrainian command did not confirm this information, and there are already some details of a successful operation of the Armed Forces in Russian publications. During the week, Ukrainian defenders attacked the positions of Russians in the village of Demidovka of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district with the help of FPV-punks and artillery, which made it impossible to keep the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the outskirts of the settlement.

The Russian units had to leave combat positions and leave the village, instead, the Armed Forces took control of the settlement. A number of local Telegram channels reported this on March 23, but officially neither Ukrainian nor the Russian side is not confirmed yet. The information was confirmed by the Russian military observer and blogger Volodymyr Romanov. He confirmed that the Armed Forces were taken under the control of Demidovka.

According to Russian publications, it is now possible to get to Demidovka only through the Kursk region: on the obstacles of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - destroyed in the settlement of the Count of the Krasnoyaruzh district of cities. Also in Russian publications report another destroyed bridge in Belgorod region - in the village of Nadezhivka, Krasnoyaruzhsky district. They argue that in this way the Armed Forces try to isolate the area of ​​hostilities.

At the same time, Russians complain that they can not accurately understand the situation at the front because the Armed Forces conduct surgery in the Belgorod region in the complete "silence mode", as it was in the case of the Kursk region. In the Russian Publishing "Voenny Costed" by the authors that Ukraine is "seriously tuned" to create a new point of tension for the Russians instead of lost positions in the Kursk region.

Military analyst Oleg Zhdanov believes that the purpose of the Armed Forces is not an offensive on Belgorod, but to create a buffer zone of security along the border. This is necessary to complicate the actions of Russian troops and reduce the threat to the Ukrainian territories. "As for the situation in the region - Demidovka has come under the control of the Armed Forces.

It is a strategically important position with dominant heights, to which Russians are difficult to tighten reserves due to the lack of convenient approach. The expert emphasizes that the Russians are forced to throw troops, in particular, elite units - marines and landing. These are the most capable units among mobilized. Operation in the Belgorod region is aimed at forcing the enemy to stretch their forces and reduce the pressure on other areas of the front.

"According to unconfirmed information, the situation for the Russians is so critical that the commander of the Leningrad military district came to the region. According to Zhdanov, the Armed Forces did not complete the operation in the Kursk region, the General Staff of Ukraine tries to determine the border on which it is possible to fix. The Armed Forces occupied dominant heights, which complicates the offensive actions of the Russians.

They have already removed some of the troops from this direction, and now they do not have sufficient reserves to restore active fighting in the Kursk region. "The Russian Federation is faced with a dilemma: where to remove the troops to enhance Belgorod and possibly Kursk direction. Most likely, reinforcements will be removed from the Zaporozhye front. The troops that have been minimized by their attacks.

According to military analyst Dmitry Snegirev, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine uses the tactics of information pause. This made it possible, in particular, to carry out a successful counter -offensive in the Kursk region. Instead, when many talked about a counter -offensive in the Zaporozhye region, it led to tragic consequences. That is why similar tactics are now used - almost complete lack of official information.

"Evaluating the situation in the Belgorod region, you can rely on the data of Russian publications and reports in their media. According to their information, the situation is not in favor of Russian troops. The sources have been reported that it can be a distracting maneuver, but now the transfer of Russian reserves from Kursk region to Belgorod.

It is worth noting that in the Belgorod region, after the events in Kursk, an operational-tactical group of "Belgorod" was created up to 50 thousand soldiers. But even under such conditions, the situation remains difficult for Russia. It is also reported that the Ukrainian troops are actively used by the Ukrainian troops, which was previously successfully used during a counter -offensive in Kharkiv region and then in Kursk.

The analyst explains that it is the tactic of the Western design, which involves the action of individual high -mobile units with the possibility of penetrating the enemy's deep rear to secure positions. "In addition, the rear logistics of the occupying troops was destroyed. Reducing the activity of their aviation. The expert emphasizes that the tactical initiative is now in the hands of Ukraine.

According to Russian sources, Ukrainian troops broke through engineering fortifications on the border - a "noble line" (or the so -called "Surovikin" line), which consisted of anti -tank barriers, mine fields and other fortifications. Now Ukrainian troops continue to promote deep into the territory of the Russian Federation. According to Snegirev, the Russian authorities are forced to evacuate the civilian population not only from the war zone, but also from all over the Krasnoyaruz district.

This testifies to the seriousness of the situation, as the Russian army considers the possibility of further expansion of hostilities in its own territory. In fact, a buffer zone is created in the Belgorod region. It is a repetition of a successful scenario of the Ukrainian counter -offensive in the Kursk region. The main task of the Defense Forces of Ukraine is to prevent the breakthrough of Russian troops from the Belgorod region to the territory of Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

"These preventive blows are a response to Putin's statements about the creation of a so -called" sanitary zone "in Ukraine, which would cover part of Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions. It is obvious that Russia will try to expand the combat theater, but Ukraine acts on ahead of the ahead," the expert sums up.