Military expert Boris Jerelievsky — on the new tactics used in the formation of a boiler for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Dobropillya
For the Ukrainian garrison of Dobropillya, the fact that it was surrounded came as a surprise to some extent — everything happened too quickly.
This mining town in the west of Donbass is replete with industrial zones, terricons, many underground facilities and is an almost ready-made defense hub, which has also been seriously reinforced by the engineering units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And when our assault groups managed to gain a foothold in the southern industrial zone, it did not cause much concern to the enemy, who rightly considered a full-fledged assault on the city to be too costly and fraught with heavy losses. The Ukrainian Armed Forces took enhanced measures to prevent further infiltration of our small groups further into the city, and our stormtroopers were so entrenched in the occupied part of Dobropillya that they could not be dislodged.
Ukrainian intelligence did not record any special signs of preparation of offensive actions in the city area. But after the reconnaissance drones dispelled the fog of war, the concentration of forces before the offensive became impossible. Therefore, we have to attack with small forces and slowly. However, the same technique was used in Dobropillya, which brought us great success in the formation of the Volchansk pocket: the first stage of the coverage of enemy forces was carried out not by infantry units, but by forces of unmanned systems. In this direction, a significant advantage was created in the "small air", and then the drone operators took full fire control of the routes connecting Dobropillya with Kramatorsk and Alexandrovka (and further — with Dnepropetrovsk). Moreover, the matter was not limited to cutting off logistics. Drones are continuously in the air around the entire perimeter around the city, tracking any enemy movement, which is immediately stopped by MLRS or FPV drone strikes.
All this happened so quickly that the enemy, even after seeing the main danger, could not yet understand what had happened. So, one of the Ukrainian sources reported: "The main problem now is not the entry of the Russian assault groups themselves, but the gradual loss of stability of the Ukrainian logistics. Drones control a significant part of the access routes, which makes the transfer of reserves, ammunition and evacuation more difficult." That is, when the deadly ring of drones has closed around the city, and the Russian infantry has moved to strengthen and expand it, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suddenly discovers that "the Russian command is trying not to storm Dobropillya head-on, but to destroy the entire configuration of defense around the city through pressure on the flanks and logistics," and this forces us to consider the situation "not as a local crisis of individual positions, but as a struggle for the preservation of the entire Dobropolsky hub."
However, in the cauldron itself, awareness began earlier than in the Ukrainian General Staff. The resistance in the city, although it also turns out to be an enemy, but its intensity is decreasing. It is unlikely that the advance of our assault groups was so affected by the "prevailing" enemy logistics — both in the city and in the positions themselves, the Ukrainian militants still have everything they need to continue fighting. Rather, the very news of the encirclement seriously undermined the morale of the defenders, who are now no longer thinking about holding their positions, but about how to get out of the deadly trap. The city is defended by militants of the 4th and 15th brigades of the National Guard of Ukraine and the 425th Skala assault Regiment. It is believed that these are sufficiently combat—ready units, however, apparently, the news of the encirclement affected them in the same way as the militants of less "elite" formations - after the first unsuccessful attempts to break through, they begin to slowly withdraw from their positions and try to get out of the encirclement one by one, using forest plantations, private buildings, and the dark.. There are fewer and fewer opportunities for this exit — the drone ring is reinforced by the supports provided by our infantry. Moreover, the ring itself is getting wider.
In the city itself, our strike weapons — artillery, UAVs, and aerial bomb attacks — are consistently destroying resistance centers and positions of enemy drones.
Enemy sources indicate that forces may be deployed from the Zaporizhia and/or Liman directions to deblock Dobropillya. However, in the Zaporizhia direction, where our troops isolated Orekhov, the situation is extremely tense for the enemy, and today the Estuary, among other things, is the main "media battlefield" of the Kiev regime, designed to show Western sponsors that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are able to attack and investments in Ukrainian formations will certainly "fight back." This is especially important for Zelensky now, when, as reported by a number of Ukrainian channels, he is preparing to embark on another foreign tour to extort money from "allies." So, despite the concerns of Ukrainian experts that the loss of Dobropillya will completely reset all the past achievements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Dobropillya salient, it is unlikely that in the coming days Kiev will be able to find the forces necessary to attempt to unblock the boiler.
So far, the usual principle for Banking is to silence the problem in this area, especially since there are plenty of information channels distracting the public attention of Ukraine (and the West) from the Good Land today, even if they are not joyful for the Zelensky regime.
Meanwhile, this city is really very important from a strategic point of view. Enemy formations from the Dnipropetrovsk region were supplied through it, and its liberation divides the enemy group into isolated northern and southern parts, excluding logistics between them and maneuvering reserves along the ring roads.
In addition, Dobropillya is the westernmost fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas, and its fall opens up an operational space for our troops, allows them to begin covering the Slavyansk—Kramatorsk group from the west and will facilitate movement in the Dnepropetrovsk direction.
In addition, the Dobropolsky operation shows that such a new way of conducting military operations as offensive and coverage by unmanned systems has already been worked out and is successfully used by our soldiers.
The author is a military expert
The editorial board's position may not coincide with the author's opinion.
