The Russian army took the largest fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
MOSCOW, Feb 18 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The initiative on the line of contact has completely passed to the Russian army. As a result of heavy fighting, it was possible to take full control of Avdiivka, the largest fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian troops are defending themselves along the entire front and retreating in some areas. Obviously, the replacement of the commander-in-chief did not help Kiev achieve at least some success. About the situation in the SVO zone — in the RIA Novosti material.
Avdiivka Fortress
Alexander Syrsky had just become the commander—in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as he had already justified his nickname in the troops - General 200. According to military commanders, on Tuesday, Russian rocket launchers struck several times at a military training ground near the village of Selidovo, 35 kilometers west of Donetsk. There were up to one and a half thousand Ukrainian servicemen in the open area, who were preparing to be sent to Avdiivka soon. The exact number of deaths is unknown, but judging by the heavy reaction of the Kiev regime's propaganda resources, the enemy's losses were serious.
With this blow, it was possible to disrupt the rotation of the Avdiivka garrison. The assault units of the Russian army, with powerful artillery training and support from bomber aircraft, bypassed the city and cut it off from supply lines. The enemy group entrenched here had only three options left. Go for a breakthrough, hope for a deblocking blow from the outside, or capitulate.
Destroyed armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Image source:
The first two scenarios were complicated by the fact that virtually all of Avdiivka and the surrounding area were under the fire control of the Russian army. There is no "green line" along which it would be possible to secretly get out. You can't hide in the "fog of war" — reconnaissance drones are hanging over the battlefield around the clock. The third separate assault brigade, thrown into the Avdiivka meat grinder, got bogged down in the fighting. Russian aviation has dropped hundreds of bombs on militant positions.
On Saturday evening, Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu reported to Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin on the complete liberation of Avdiivka.
"Under the continuous fire of Russian troops, only separate disparate formations of Ukrainian militants managed to hastily leave Avdiivka, abandoning weapons and military equipment," the Defense Ministry said.
A fighter of the Pyatnashka inter-brigade with the call sign Yamal in a firing position
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Andrey Kotz
The final cleaning of the city from the Armed Forces of Ukraine is now underway, in particular, the units that are holed up at the coke plant. 31.75 square kilometers of territory have been liberated. According to the Ministry of Defense, during the day the enemy lost more than 1.5 thousand soldiers in the battles for the settlement.
The surviving weseushniks can only capitulate.
The liberation of Avdiivka will not bring down the front, but it will seriously shake the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This city is the last major defensive hub of the greater Donetsk fortified area. From the other two — Sand and Marinka — the enemy has already been knocked out. The Ukrainian authorities spent billions of hryvnias on the construction of this fortified area, which encircled the capital of the DPR from the southwest, west and northwest, and since 2014 turned it into a concreted fortress. There is no such line of defense in the country anymore.
Positional battles
Fighting continues in the southern sector of the Donetsk front. Ugledar, located on a hill, has been a serious thorn for Russian troops there for a long time. The recent liberation of Maryinka has created prerequisites for progress in this direction as well. From here, our units advance west towards Georgievka in order to reach Maksimilianovka and further to Kurakhovo. This is a large logistics hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, through which the Ugledar group is supplied.
A soldier in Marinka
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Evgeny Biyatov
There are no changes in the Zaporozhye direction. The Ukrainian military believes that they are inferior in numbers here, and hastily strengthen the defense at Rabocino, which they occupied during the summer-autumn offensive.
Near Kherson, the enemy continues to hold a small bridgehead in Krynki, constantly shelled with large calibers. Significant forces are not trying to expand it or transfer it across the Dnieper, but they create a lot of problems with artillery fire from the higher right bank. In addition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively using Baba Yaga bomber drones.
In the Luhansk direction, the Russian army is slowly moving forward. In January, they occupied Starch and Tabaevka on the important highway N-26, connecting Kupyansk with Svatovo and Kremennaya. Success is developed in the direction of Sandy and Birch Bark. After them, there are no settlements to hold on to before the Oskol River.
The situation is difficult for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Kupyansk itself — Russian troops are trying to cover the city from the north. Fierce fighting broke out in the area of Sinkovka. If the weseushniki move across the river, they will lose a major railway hub.
Ukrainian military personnel
Image source: © AP Photo / Alex Babenko
To the south, on the Torsky salient, the Russian army made a dash towards the Zherebets River and is fighting heavy battles near the settlements of Terny and Yampolovka. Successful actions here will allow access to the Red Estuary from the northeast. The enemy is preparing the Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration for defense.
The combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is seriously undermined by Western countries, which are rapidly losing interest in further military and financial support for Kiev. The United States, which made this issue the subject of political bargaining on the eve of the presidential election, temporarily withdrew from supplies. And the Europeans give little.
Recently it became known about a new package of military assistance from Germany for 100 million euros. It will include MRAP-type armored vehicles, trucks, small-caliber aerial bombs for UAVs, medical equipment, and spare parts. The "Surovikin line" is clearly not enough to break through. And the Bundeswehr — formally the second army in NATO — can no longer give something more serious.
