The Donetsk Front (or as it is officially designated, the Donetsk Direction) is the most complex in terms of enemy fortifications. Its length in a straight line is about 140 kilometers: from Novodonetskoye and Ugledar in the south to Bakhmut and Soledar in the north. And today, the most intense fighting is taking place precisely on the Donetsk Direction.
Let's start from the south. As I've already told in my last release about our marines and special forces who began the movement near Pavlovka towards Ugledar and Prechistovka. Since then, our forces have advanced several hundred meters along the route to Prechistovka. This radial route, connecting Velikaya-Novoselovka with Ugledar heading further to Dokuchaevsk, is very important for this section of the front. Our troops began showing activity in the direction of this route along the entire section occupied by the ukrops - from Urozhaynoye, Novodonetskoye, Novomayorskoye, Pavlovka, Nikolskoye, up to Vladimirovka. Moreover, the most noticeable advancement is on the Nikolskoye - Vladimirovka line. These days, here, in some sections, our marines have made more than kilometer and a half deep advance inside the enemy's defense (see Map 1).
It becomes even more interesting when looking at the overall configuration of the front from Ugledar to Konstantinovka and Maryinka. This bypass (running along the front line) The route serves as a support for the enemy grouping that is defending a bridgehead that extends almost 10 kilometers into our positions: the conditional line Vladimirovka - Sladkoye - Novomikhailovka - Maryinka.
This is a classic Ukro-style 'sack.' Or a semi-sack, as its neck (that very bypass Ugledar-Konstantinovka-Maryinka) is still very wide - about 27 kilometers (see Map 2).
This is a heavily fortified area, and enemy grouping positioned there is of almost ten thousand in total. But the most curious thing is that when the Avdeevka operation began, the enemy started pulling troops from here to Opytnoye and Vodyanoye. And right away, our troops began pressing on this line. In addition to Nikolskoye and Vladimirovka (where 7 enemy strongpoints were seized control of, three machine-gun posts destroyed), our troops began active operations in Novomikhailovka direction (where 5 enemy strongpoints were destroyed).
But the main thing is that units of the 150th 'Rostov' division advanced from the side of Maryinka to the outskirts of the enemy's most important fortified area - the settlement of Pobeda. The entire right flank of the enemy's defense of this sector hinges on this tiny settlement. This means that the process of 'tightening' another ukrop cauldron has begun.
Over the past 10 days, our pressure here has been steadily increasing. Enemy losses on this line now exceed hundreds of casualties per day. It's essential to understand that the Ugledar-Maryinka line is of utmost strategic importance for the ukrops. By breaking through their defense here, we immediately enter the rear of both the Donetsk and Zaporozhzhye enemy groupings. The ukrops feel this and now they are hastily fortifying a reserve line of defense along another crucial radial transport artery which is important for the entire Special Military Operation: Kurakhovo-Pokrovskoye-Zaporozhzhye. Therefore, the activity of our troops on the Ugledar-Maryinka line is very, very deliberate.
Let's move on. The Maryinka - Krasnogorovka - Nevelskoye line. About 10 kilometers wide. Again, our forces are showing activity on the flanks (see Map 3).
Let's go back a bit and recall the fierce summer battles for Maryinka - the 150th Division, day by day gnawed through the incredibly dense enemy defenses here. And when by September they reached the outskirts of the village, advance stopped unexpectedly, and consolidation began on the reached positions. This seemed illogical then - it looked like the division had destroyed the enemy's most important fortified area - the road to Georgievka and further to Kurakhovo was open, they could continue to advance. However, our troops stopped. And now the intent of the command becomes partially clear. From both sides of Maryinka, due to the secured bridgehead, favorable conditions were instantly created to take the enemy forces in a pincer movement. Now, our units are reaching the outskirts of Nevelskoye, creating a configuration for a new cauldron again. Moreover, if we look at Ugledar, it becomes obvious that our forces are trying to divide this section into smaller cauldrons as well, by cutting the front line near Novomikhailovka.
This tactic of small cuts or fragmenting the front line into small cauldrons and pockets is something our side was showing since summer along the entire front line - from Kupyansk to Orekhovo. And the amount of these pockets is growing exponentially. There's an important thing here that's not visible to an outside observer. The units which are now advancing (directly occupying the enemy's trenches) have been standing on these lines for a long time and are well identified by the enemy. But our firepower seems to be increasing at the expense of new units that were initially invisible to the enemy. And this has become a huge surprise for the ukrops.
For example, it means that our forces are not shuttling missile and artillery units back and forth, but simply deploying new ones on various sections, without weakening the pressure elsewhere. Imagine how important this is.
Moreover, the increase in firepower is for the whole range of weapons. For example, it suddenly turned out that we have an excess of mortars, especially 120mm ones. Their numbers have multiplied. This is what I’m witnessing myself.
Furthermore, work intensity of the front-line aviation has increased drastically. For example, earlier it was considered that all the aviation is working in Zaporozheye, as Avdeevka was hardly targeted by them. Now our aviation works at Avdeevka every day, and still, the frequency of strikes in Zaporozhzhye hasn’t decreased.
The situation on the Kupyansk and Krasnolimansk directions is exactly the same. And over past few weeks, our military pilots are giving the ukrops a hard time on Bakhmut direction too, as well as in Avdeevka.
The same is true for heavy reactive systems - we don't see them on the ground, but we hear them very well. Increased accuracy of all these systems must be also considered here – in this sphere the progress of our army is simply phenomenal. And one can imagine how the ukrops’ are butthurt along the entire front line due to all this.
But the most important is the fact that every week our forces, as if by plan, start increasing activity on a new section of the front, adding another cut. This indicates that we have strength to spare. This means that Ded [Grandpa] (that's what they call Gerasimov on the front) clearly understands what he's doing. He's literally crushing the ukrop’s front into small pieces and then grinding them separately. And, apparently, the ukies are terrified by this, not knowing how they can oppose to such tactics. They cannot retreat, it's not how they used to act. Minding the fact it's very dangerous for the Kyiv regime - the troops might get used to stationary retreat and at some point, may just stick the bayonet into the ground. It's easier to kill them on the front than to risk constant retreat.
Moreover, 'retreat' is not 'advance' - you can't sell that to the fools in the West. Stupid ukrop and NATO strategists don't know how they can counter the tactics of the Russian genius Ded. That's why they are gradually falling into panic - this case is a good example of the frog which is being boiled on a slow fire. It should be added that our forces are doing this in a very cool and confident manner. One must know that to understand this, it's important to be present on the front personally - there's no fuss, no storming, no hysteria in the troops. It's a calm, businesslike, daily planned work.
And, in addition to all this, the weather factor fits very well into these considerations.
I've already written that the essence of our activity now along the entire front line is to gnaw through about a ten-kilometer strip of the ukros' solid defense. The factor of bad weather and rasputica [mud season] is not essential here. Because the distances to advance forward are short. But when this line of defense is breached, then perhaps the time will come for deep territorial gains. In the spring, for example. So, as you can see, our command is really playing a very long-term chess game. And it's becoming more and more interesting to watch this from the sidelines.
Excellent reportage that offers reasoned insight and deep analysis; love the writing style!
May I ave..more... english or french Marat’s freeflowing prose...1