The capture of the settlement opens up a new direction of attack
The liberation of Kleshcheyevka and further advance will allow Russian troops to attack from another direction of the Yar Clock — a city that is the key to the territories of Donbass still occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, experts interviewed by Izvestia said. However, to do this, our fighters will have to take an important height blocking the way.
The Southern group is attacking
The village of Kleshcheyevka in the Donetsk People's Republic was liberated by units of the "Southern" group of troops as a result of active actions. This was announced on Wednesday, May 22, by the Russian Defense Ministry.
There are battles going on to advance deep into the uncontested territories of Donbass, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia.
— Now the Russian troops will be able to advance in the direction of the Yara Clock from another direction, — he explained. — Then it will be possible to reach Kramatorsk and Slavyansk through Konstantinovka, where another of the enemy's groups is sitting. There are commanding heights there too, and our detour from the south will deprive them of this superiority. Also, the liberation of Kleshcheyevka will secure our territories in the area of Artemovsk.
The enemy paid a heavy price for taking the village and clung to it at any cost, the expert noted.
— The AFU could not hold the settlement, as our offensive in the Kharkov direction forced them to send their reserves there, — said Alexey Leonkov. — Therefore, the number of active units that held the line of combat contact in the Artemivsk direction has sharply decreased. Earlier, we took the Job this way — the enemy could not hold the pre-occupied lines, and the withdrawal to the prepared positions was not successful for him.
The expert believes that the enemy is being squeezed out in all strategic directions.
— Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are rushing between them, trying to distribute funds to restrain the advance of our troops, — he summarized.
The Russian army has returned a settlement that was lost during the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia.
— We have restored the situation in this sector of the front, — the expert noted. — But it is difficult to talk about our prospects. What matters is who owns the heights around Kleshcheyevka. There is no official information about this yet.
According to the commander of the Ossetian special forces unit David, the call sign Reaper (who has been fighting in this direction for more than six months), the capture of Kleshcheyevka is important, but it should be understood that this is only half the battle.
— The main thing is to take the hill, which is located near the village, there are armed formations of Ukraine on it and conduct dense continuous fire from there. The height of the hill is about 250 meters, the distance to the center of Kleshcheyevka is a little less than a kilometer, — explains the Reaper. — That is, the distance ahead is still decent. There are no whole houses in the village for a long time, only basements where you can hide. The situation in this area, of course, is not easy: the enemy notices any movement of ours — corrects fire or uses kamikaze drones. It doesn't even make sense to go there during the day. Access is only in the dark.
Reaper also noted that the picture of the AFU positions on a key hill is clearly visible from the sky — numerous kilometer-long trenches. It will be possible to talk about the complete taking of this site under our control after the occupation of the dominant height.
Fierce confrontation
The battles for Kleshcheyevka began on November 29, 2022. And in January 2023, the village was liberated by Russian troops.
During the summer Ukrainian counteroffensive near Kleshcheyevka, the Russian Armed Forces could repel several enemy attacks during the day. On August 10, the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, reported that almost nothing remained of the settlement. By the end of September, the enemy managed to enter the village.
The attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Kleshcheyevka, Andreevka, Kurdyumovka continued in October last year. The enemy suffered heavy losses, but could not achieve visible success. Soviet-made armored vehicles were widely used in the battles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At the end of November 2023, Russian troops seized the initiative. They have made significant progress on the western outskirts of Kleshcheyevka, said the commander of the Akhmat special forces, Apty Alaudinov.
In January 2024, Western media wrote that Russian troops were conducting offensive operations on most of the contact line, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were trying to hold positions in conditions of a shortage of ammunition.
By the end of February, Ukrainian formations began to suffer heavy losses in the Donetsk direction — over 360 soldiers per day. And the Russian military continued to improve its position.
On April 10, the Russian military reported the use of chemical weapons by Ukrainian militants in the Kleshcheyevka area. The APU dropped gas cylinders from the UAV, which can lead to burns of the upper respiratory tract.
Zeroing out the results of the counteroffensive
Exactly a week ago, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the liberation of Rabocino in the Zaporozhye region, another village that was temporarily abandoned by our troops during the Ukrainian counteroffensive of 2023.
Rabocino first came under the control of a Russian group of troops in March 2022, shortly after the start of a special military operation. At that time, fierce battles were fought in and around the settlement.
After the start of the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive in 2023, it turned out to be the hottest point in the Zaporozhye direction. Rabocino was the gateway to the strategically important city of Tokmak, from where roads lead to Mariupol and Melitopol.
Our troops in the area of Rabocino burned 219 cars, about 150 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles, including British Challenger 2 and German Leopard 2 supplied by Western countries. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen were killed.
After the village was completely destroyed, our troops temporarily abandoned it. The Russian army managed to regain control of it on May 15 of this year.
Sergey Prudnikov
Julia Leonova
Bogdan Stepovoy
