MOSCOW, 15 Sep — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The situation in Donbass and in the south of Ukraine is becoming more complicated. The authorities of the LPR announced the approach of the front line to the borders of the republic. And in Zaporozhye, they warned about the upcoming offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — with the use of heavy weapons. About how events are developing — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Left Bank
The Russian military left settlements on the territory of the Kharkiv region and retreated to the east, taking up defense on the left bank of the Oskol River — already in the DPR. To the south of their positions, fighting continues for Svyatogorsk, which today is in the gray zone, where no one formally entered.
To the east is the Red Estuary, the main defense hub of the Allied forces in this direction. There are fights going on there now. The APU has made several attempts to storm, but their attacks are repulsed with the support of aviation and artillery.
"According to my information, our reserves are being pulled there at the moment," says an officer of the DPR army with the call sign Klim. — You can't lose this city. It stands on an important highway connecting Slavyansk with Seversk. If the Red Estuary passes under Ukraine, the AFU will be able to transfer forces to the east for an offensive on Lisichansk and Severodonetsk. But it's not easy to take the city. The Seversky Donets River runs to the east. Our gunners got the hang of hitting targets during crossings."
A column of vehicles of the special forces of the Russian Armed Forces near Izyum Image source: © RIA Novosti / Viktor Antonyuk
According to the Ministry of Defense, during the counteroffensive, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already lost several thousand people killed and wounded. The number of their troops in the south-east of the Kharkiv region exceeded the grouping of allied forces by eight times.
The counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military in the Kharkiv region was led by Western instructors. According to The New York Times, American officials, including the assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, have been preparing this operation together with the Ukrainians for several months.
Dress rehearsal
To the south of the Red Estuary, the battles for Artemovsk (Bakhmut) continue. The assault units of the Allied forces managed to crack the defense line, capturing one of the strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A springboard for further offensive was formed in the city industrial zone. The Ukrainian military is clearly not going to surrender the city without a fight. Artemovsk is an important transport and logistics hub at the intersection of highways connecting the largest cities of Donbass and neighboring regions.
According to the DPR intelligence, there are now more than 15 thousand Ukrainian soldiers in Artemovsk — units of the 30th, 72nd, 14th and 24th mechanized brigades, 109th and 118th territorial Defense brigades, 4th Tank Brigade, National Guard, mercenaries. Part of the troops is defending Soledar — it is slightly to the north. The city has high-rise buildings and several large industrial enterprises with underground shelters.
The defeat of this group will be the strongest blow for Kiev. From here, the Allied forces will be able to advance towards Kramatorsk — to the west, through Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka, or to the northwest - to Slavyansk. In addition, Artemovsk is an ideal supply base for units and formations in the north of Donbass. The battles for this city, as noted in the DPR, are a "dress rehearsal" of the offensive against the Slavyansk—Kramatorsk agglomeration.
A risky venture
There are also battles near Donetsk — mostly artillery. At the end of last week, the AFU tried to counterattack under the Sands and Donetsk airport. However, they were repulsed by return fire.
The slow advance of the Allied troops in Maryinka and in the Avdiivka direction continues. It is impossible to move quickly here — in eight years the area has turned into a complex fortification network.
Positions of the 107th battalion of the DPR Army in Marinka Image source: © RIA Novosti / Andrey Kotz
"Everything is filled with concrete, trenches are dug everywhere, communication passages," explains an officer of the DPR army with the call sign Java. — Dugouts with logs in three rolls, concrete pillboxes, gabions, sandbags, barbed wire. Every house has been turned into a firing point, everything around is mined. It was worth a lot of effort to knock them out of the first line of defense. They fight competently, what can I say."
If the fighting near Donetsk is mainly positional, then the military expects active actions to the south. According to the intelligence of the DPR, Ukrainians are now removing their minefields under Ugledar. In addition, at the beginning of the week, an echelon with 150 units of military equipment arrived at the station in Pokrovsky.
The grouping that can be assembled here is estimated at ten thousand people. It is capable of advancing on Volnovakha and cutting the Donetsk—Mariupol highway. However, there is a possibility that the Ugledar site is a "deception".
"It is possible that they will strike on the southern front not in the area of Ugledar, where our motivated units with many years of experience of battles are standing and where we are waiting for them, but in another place," said the first Deputy Minister of Information of the DPR, Daniil Bezsonov. — For example, in the Zaporozhye region, in order to reach the Sea of Azov and cut the land corridor between Russia and Crimea. The idea is extremely risky for the APU, but they can now make sudden movements."
Ukrainian military in Donetsk region Image Source: © AP Photo / Kostiantyn Liberov
His words are confirmed by a recent statement by Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Main Council of the administration of the Zaporozhye region. In the region, he said, more and more Ukrainian heavy equipment is accumulating along the entire contact line.
At the beginning of September, the AFU units tried to counterattack in the Kherson direction, but fell into fire bags and retreated, suffering heavy losses. The offensive in Zaporozhye is one of the options for further actions. Apparently, Ukraine wants to achieve tactical success before the autumn thaw.
Andrey Kotz
