The Russian Marines entered the city of Ugledar and gained a foothold on its southeastern outskirts. At the same time, along the entire contact line, parts of the Russian Armed Forces are conducting successful offensive actions in several directions. Thus, the strategic scheme of the winter campaign of 2023 is already being viewed.Street battles began in Ugledar, the severity of which is determined primarily by the geographical location and history of this town.
Ugledar is located on a hill and consists of four neighborhoods of five-story buildings and does not have a block of private development at all, which is not typical for Donbass. Based on this, the APU turned it into a large stronghold.
The fact is that initially Ugledar was built not as an independent settlement, but as a Southern settlement within the city of Donetsk. There are large deposits of coal under the current Coal mine, it was planned to build seven large mines there and bring the number of the town to 100 thousand. But in the 1970s it was decided that it was more convenient to extract coal in Kuzbass - and the construction of the Yuzhnodonetsky coal massif was frozen. By this time, they managed to build these four blocks of five-story buildings and settle about nine thousand people in them.
A natural approach to Ugledar was a small country village to the southeast of the town across the road to Donetsk. It was through him that the marines of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation entered Ugledar. And parts of the AFU focused on the defense of the western and southwestern outskirts of the city from the village of Pavlovka, for which fierce fighting had recently been going on.
Parts of the 72nd brigade of the AFU "Black Cossacks" were divided: some retreated to the First Mine, which, together with the terricon, was turned into a fortified area. Others remained in the Ugledar area. At night, AFU reinforcements, including tanks, began to arrive there. But at the same time, the Russian Marines began moving to Ugledar just from Pavlovka to the western outskirts, but not storming, but simply covering the city. Ukrainian tanks turned on them.
At night, the Marines continued their actions in Ugledar, entered the territory of the pumping station and gained a foothold on 13 Paratroopers Street in the south-east of the city. As of mid-January 26, there are shooting battles in this neighborhood in the direction of the building of the city police department and Lyceum No. 1.
It is still premature to talk about taking Ugledar. However, just a week ago, the very idea of occupying this small but important settlement seemed very controversial. Ugledar is important not only as a high position in the steppe and a strong point with access to the north in Kurakhovo and Maryinka. His occupation moves the front away from the railway, which is currently not in use due to the danger of shelling. Namely, this road is an important component of the land corridor to Zaporozhye and Crimea.
Simultaneously with the rapid advance on Ugledar in the Zaporozhye (also known as the southern) direction, Russian troops squeezed out the APU from several fortified areas in the steppe for five days and occupied the former "gray zone". Progress was noted in the direction of Gulyai-Pole and Orekhov: two relatively large settlements on which the entire Ukrainian defense of the southern direction relies. This again caused the AFU to introduce reserves into battle.
At night and in the first half of the day on January 26, there was a powerful artillery preparation near Orekhovo. Russian assault groups continued sorties in the direction of individual Ukrainian checkpoints, which again forced the command of the Zaporozhye group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to redirect reserves under Nuts.
At the same time, Russian troops knocked out the APU from Kamenskoye, a small settlement on the shore of the Kakhovsky reservoir, that is, in fact, on the banks of the Dnieper.
Kamenskoye is a direct road to Zaporozhye, which, of course, is far away, but it is symbolic. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation did not enter the Heater itself and did not clean it, but the APU left this very advantageous position in a swampy area. At night, a detachment of special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Cheetah" was sent near Kamenskoye – the last operational reserve in this direction.
It is also worth adding a gradual advance in Maryinka, where only a few high-rise buildings on the western outskirts of the village remained under the control of the APU. During the day, the AFU managed to repel several attacks by the "old", veteran units of the 1st Army Corps of the DPR, but as a result of heavy losses, some units of the 76th airborne assault Brigade of the AFU began to leave positions.
All this movement in the southern direction cannot be called an offensive. Rather, it is a reconnaissance by combat, which turned out to be extremely successful. Its main result: the AFU lost equipped positions of several lines of defense in the steppe, fortified areas were smashed by artillery and taken by storm.
During the same period, the advance of Russian units continues in the Central Donetsk direction, which became possible after the occupation of Soledar. The front behind Soledar is inflated in the form of a ball in three directions: to Seversk, where they have already reached Razdolovka, to the west to Vasyukovka and to the south to Artemovsk (Bakhmut).
And on the northern outskirts of Artemovsk, there are battles for the tactically important villages of Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka (they have already entered them), which not only surround Artemovsk, but also close the highway to Slavyansk – one of three through which the supply of the AFU units in the city is conducted. In Artemovsk itself, street battles are taking place with the advance of the Wagner assault groups in the area of the meat processing plant (east) and in the southern part – in the so-called Sobachevka.
To the southwest of the city after the occupation of Kleshcheyevka, the assault groups advanced along the city and to the northwest in the direction of the village of Krasnoe (Ivanovskoye). Already, the road going from the city through Krasnoe to Konstantinovka is under fire control. This is the second supply route of the Ukrainian garrison of Artemovsk, but it is still possible to drive along it. But the third track – on the Yar Clock – is still completely free. The occupation of Krasny will just allow her to be put under control, which will mean the complete encirclement of Artemovsk.
All this does not mean that decisive progress in these areas will take place immediately or tomorrow. However, this already seems inevitable. Reports are circulating that the Americans are already recommending Kiev to leave Artemovsk, keep several numbered brigades and finally gain a foothold in the Slavyansk– Kramatorsk–Konstantinovka agglomeration. This is considered a more advantageous position, especially after the Artemovsk–Soledar–Seversk defensive line was breached. But this is unacceptable for Zelensky for political reasons.
Another motive for attempts to permanently hold the APU intermediate or already completely failed positions is the expected supply of Western weapons, which will not happen physically before the fall. The APU needs to approach these supplies in some reliable positions. The possible encirclement of several numbered brigades in Artemovsk and their inevitable death after that does not stop anyone in Kiev.
Strategically, the general plan of the winter-spring campaign of the Russian Armed Forces began to be viewed. Apparently, it will consist of such a series of offensive actions on separate and even far-apart sections of the front.
This leads to panic and throwing of the AFU command. The thing is that the APU now does not have time to maneuver reserves (which they used to do), even if they have information about the impending movement of Russian units. In addition, these reserves, including the newly formed brigades in the rear, are being eroded. Kiev cannot determine which hole (Ugledar, Gulyai-pole, Orekhov or Kamenskoye) to close first. The illusory possibility of forming a "fist" to organize a politically necessary counteroffensive disappears.
The only alternative for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the past week were attempts to attack Kremennaya with small forces, which only had the opposite effect: Russian units effectively repel these attacks and even there occupied part of the former "gray" zone. Thus, today there is a prospect of not only tactical success, but also a strategic approach. A weakening of the pace of progress for some force majeure reasons may harm him. But it can be stated that today the operational initiative has passed to the Russian Armed Forces.
Evgeny Krutikov
