Colonel Khodarenok: The Armed Forces of Ukraine may withdraw from the Kursk region after the surrender of the Coal mine
The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Alexander Syrsky, gave the order to strengthen the defense shortly after the Russian army stormed the city of Ugledar. How events will develop in the near future, whether the AFU will counterattack and whether failures at the front will lead to the withdrawal of Ukrainian units from the Kursk region - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
"Strengthening the defense"
The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, after the loss of Ugledar, ordered the military to strengthen the defense in this sector of the front. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.
"I have made a number of decisions aimed at strengthening the stability and effectiveness of our defense," the Ukrainian military commander said.
The question arises - what might the measures that the AFU command is currently taking look like.
In detail, the content of the combat order (or operational directive) of General Alexander Syrsky will not be known to us soon. Nevertheless, it is possible to understand what the military commander outlined in this document.
As usual, at first, Alexander Syrsky made brief conclusions from the assessment of the grouping and actions of the enemy (that is, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) in this direction, informed the commanders of units and formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Ugledar direction about the tasks of neighbors and dividing lines with them, outlined the plan of the upcoming hostilities, set tasks for a defensive operation (combat operations), He outlined the locations and time of deployment of control points, and finally specified the time of readiness for tasks.
General Syrsky most likely characterized the assessment of the situation with the following phrases: "... the enemy (units and formations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are listed) stormed the city of Ugledar and captured important frontiers for the subsequent development of success and advancement into the depth of defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During the time required by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to create a stable defense and deploy defensive groups, the enemy, who has superiority in forces and means, will be able to continue the offensive in the near future in the direction of Kurakhovo, Bogatyr, Velikaya Novoselka. It should be expected that by putting available reserves into battle, the enemy can increase efforts in the directions of these attacks and try to complete the defeat of our units and formations in this direction and reach the administrative borders of the region. The current situation requires taking urgent measures to stabilize the front line, disrupt the advance and entry into battle of the nearest enemy reserves and provide assistance (units and formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending in this direction are listed)."
To prevent the expansion of the breakthrough
There is no doubt that General Syrsky, in his combat order after the fall of Ugledar, paid the greatest attention to the issues of persistent retention by units and formations of the AFU of the most important borders and areas, demanded to stop the further advance of the advancing troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in depth, and to prevent the expansion of the breakthrough to the flanks.
In this regard, the commander probably decided to focus the main efforts of his subordinate troops on holding the line of Novoukrainka, Bogoyavlenka, Elizavetovka, Katerinovka, where Syrsky certainly ordered the defense to be organized according to the principle of "not a step back." In addition, it cannot be ruled out that General Syrsky's plans also include a clause on the organization of counterattacks in order to defeat the Russian formations wedged into the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And the advancing units and formations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation must be prepared for this.
In the meantime, there is every reason to believe that the Ukrainian troops have been given the command to firmly gain a foothold on the first defensive line (Bogoyavlenka - Elizavetovka), that is, to carry out the fortification equipment of the defense strip to the maximum extent possible, paying special attention to the equipment of the trench system and communication passages, the creation of engineering barriers (in other words, large-scale mining of the area). At the same time, General Syrsky probably set unusually strict deadlines for the implementation of all necessary engineering tasks and activities.
It is quite possible that in order to stabilize the situation at the front after the fall of Ugledar, Alexander Syrsky will need large-scale regrouping of units and formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strengthen troops in areas where the success of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was clearly marked.
There are not so many ways here anymore. For example, in this case, reserves or troops from non-attacked areas are usually put forward in the direction of the enemy's breakthrough. However, there are practically no such sites left in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
And now the most important thing is that it is not so difficult to prepare the most formidable combat order (or operational directive). But, firstly, the document must fully correspond to the capabilities of the troops, and secondly, that is the art of war in order to implement the phrases set out in combat documents.
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).
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 Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
