Colonel Khodarenok: The DPR may come under full control of Russia by the end of autumn
The Russian Armed Forces have already taken control of 99.7% of the territory of the Luhansk and 79% of the Donetsk People's Republics. And although the Ukrainian Armed Forces now control only a little more than 20% of the territory of the DPR, the remaining part is a powerful fortified area where Ukrainian fighters intend to fight on the principle of "not a step back." When will the Russian military be able to enter the administrative borders of the DPR and why experts' arguments about specific deadlines annoy the fighters - in the material of the military observer Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov outlined an action plan for the near future at a meeting of the Board of the Military Department. Russia is not going to stop military operations in 2025 and will continue offensive operations, including the preparation of new strikes in the upcoming autumn campaign.
Belousov said that the Russian army had doubled its pace of advance by August. Key enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine were damaged as a result of 35 massive and group strikes on 146 critical facilities. In July, 6,298 attack drones were used, mainly Geran-2, and 192 missiles of various types were fired. In the same month, the Russian army deployed 23,500 FPV drones, which became an all-time record.
In turn, the head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, said that the Russian army had liberated 99.7% of the territory of the LPR, 79% of the DPR, 74% of the Zaporizhia and 76% of the Kherson regions. Troops continue to form a security buffer zone in Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
The military department reports that Russian troops take control of approximately 600-700 square kilometers of territory every month.
In other words, units and formations of the Russian Armed Forces are demonstrating an increasingly active advance in the combat zone. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have practically no chance left to prepare and carry out operational-level counterattacks. The initiative is firmly owned by Russian troops.
Deadlines for the liberation of Donbass
Apparently, in the near future, the units and formations of the Russian Armed Forces will face the task of completely knocking out the enemy from the territory of the DPR and liberating Donbass in full.
The head of the region, Denis Pushilin, had already announced the day before that the Russian military had liberated the entire south of the Donetsk People's Republic. He recalled that over the past week, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian troops had taken control of such settlements of the DPR as the First of May, Nelepovka and Kamyshevakha. Thus, all settlements in the south of the republic were liberated.
And although the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently control just over 20% of the territory of the DPR, the rest of the republic is a powerful fortified area reinforced with fortress cities, and the enemy intends to conduct military operations here on the principle of "not a step back." So the task of completely expelling the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the territory of the DPR is not an easy one.
The question arises, when will the Russian public hear from the military department?: "After a long siege and fierce street fighting, the Russian army completed the liquidation of the encircled enemy group in the Slavyano-Kramatorsk agglomeration, stormed the fortress cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, and reached the administrative borders of the DPR along their entire length."?
However, the specific deadlines for the capture of certain frontiers, districts and settlements, which are sometimes predicted by representatives of the expert community, naturally irritate Russian fighters and commanders of the front line.
Because it's one thing to make the wildest assumptions while deep in the rear, and it's quite another to move forward with heavy fighting, fighting for every house, floor and street.
Therefore, it is quite possible that any specific deadlines for the liberation of Donbass in the planning documents of the Russian command are formulated as follows: "complete the defeat of enemy groups in the Slavyano-Kramatorsk agglomeration and reach the administrative borders of the DPR by the end of the autumn campaign of 2025."
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
