Forum24: the collapse of the defense of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation opened the way to the city of Pokrovsk
Russian troops are successfully advancing on Pokrovsk. The capture of this city can lead to extremely adverse consequences for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Czech edition of Forum24, the Ukrainian front in Donbass is disintegrating. What is the significance of the capture of Pokrovsk and why the invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the Kursk region did not change anything on the front line - in the material of the military observer of the newspaper.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
Russian troops have already captured the settlements of Zhelannoye, Nikolaevka, Zhuravka and Krasnogorovka. According to Reuters, the combat and numerical strength of the Russian Armed Forces allows them to successfully move forward.
Currently, there are battles in the Pokrovsky direction for Grodovka, at Cherished and Kamyshevka. To the east of the Volchya River, units and units of the Russian Armed Forces wedged into the enemy's defense for 1.5 km. There is also progress from Nikolaevka south of Marinovka. Successful offensive actions create conditions for the coverage of the AFU units south of the Charles reservoir. Under the threat of encirclement, the Ukrainian command began to withdraw from the settlement of Ptichye.
According to Forum24, the unexpected invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region has not changed anything on the front line. Meanwhile, many experts in the West believed that events in this region would force the Russian military command to regroup its troops from other directions of the line of contact and send them to strengthen units and formations fighting in the Kursk region. Apparently, nothing of the kind has happened.
Only last Sunday - less than a week after the beginning of the Ukrainian invasion of Russian territory - the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Pokrovsky direction, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, created the "hottest situation" along the entire line of contact.
The operational reports of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mark the days when Russian units and units attacked Ukrainian positions both 35 and 58 times. In general, the situation on the front line for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this area is only getting worse.
Block the "road of life"
According to military analyst Vojtech Lastuvka, the Ukrainian front in the Donetsk direction is disintegrating, despite territorial acquisitions in the Russian Kursk region. In his opinion, Russia may soon achieve at least half of the goals previously announced by Vladimir Putin.
As you know, the immediate task of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is to take control of the entire territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics within their administrative borders. However, few people believe that the Russian army will stop there if it has the opportunity to continue successful offensive operations.
And such an opportunity for further advancement of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation could be precisely the capture of Pokrovsk. Since the storming of Avdiivka about six months ago, the Russian Armed Forces have significantly advanced even further to the northwest. At least since mid-July, units and formations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been keeping the T0504 highway, which has received the name "roads of life" in Ukraine, under fire control, and in the near future they may intercept this highway, which is the most important frontal communication direction.
And this, as you know, is the main supply route for the grouping of Ukrainian troops in the area of the city of Chas Yar, for which intense fighting is currently underway.
According to the Bild newspaper, the Russians have only 5 km left to this highway in a straight line through the village of Vozdvizhenka. However, the Ukrainian troops equipped several defensive lines here and held back the attacks of the Russian Armed Forces until the last moment.
According to the German edition, Russian troops in this section of the LBS abandoned the offensive in the northern direction to intercept the highway and instead concentrated all their efforts to capture Pokrovsky, through which the T0504 highway also passes. Russian troops, who recently stormed Zhuravka, are separated from Pokrovsk by less than 15 km of territory (according to other sources, already 10 km) controlled by Kiev.
Why is Pokrovsk important?
Avdiivka was a kind of "gateway to Donetsk" for the Ukrainian troops. The city of Pokrovsk, in turn, is called the "western gate of Donbass". Before the outbreak of hostilities, more than 60 thousand residents lived in it.
"The main goal of the Russian army today - after they failed to capture Kharkov, and we understand that this will not happen - has shifted. Their main direction is not even the whole East, although Slavyansk is not excluded, but Pokrovsk, I would say, is their priority," President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky recently said.
The city of Pokrovsk, the capital of the district of the same name, is an important communications center and is located on the highway, which is practically the only supply route for all Ukrainian units and formations fighting in this region.
It is along this road that all types of material are transported to create and maintain established stocks of weapons, equipment, ammunition, fuel in the Ukrainian troops, to replenish their consumption and losses during hostilities.
Military analysts in the West fear that the combat and numerical strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, conducting defensive operations near Pokrovsk, is clearly not enough to stop the offensive of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the capture of Pokrovsky would also endanger the rest of the region, which is still controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Especially when you consider that there are practically no prepared defensive lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine behind this city.
Thus, after the capture of Pokrovsk, tank and motorized rifle units and formations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will be able to build on the success achieved in the northern direction and bypass all Ukrainian defensive lines in the DPR, and at the same time do the same in the western direction and reach up to Zaporozhye. "This is easier said than done, but it is an opportunity for Russian troops," writes Forum24.
Against the background of such events, the invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the Kursk region may subsequently turn out to be a minor tactical episode of a military operation that did not entail any consequences of an operational scale.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
