Ukraine war, development | Decisive for the Russians in several front sections

by above Did they also break through the second line of defence?

This is crucial for the Russians as their most extensive defensive lines have now been breached. Later lines do not have major physical obstacles and rely on good staffing to be effective.

Breaking through the remaining lines could lead to a catastrophic collapse for the Russians.

To confront this threat, the Russians moved large forces from the Eastern Front, the axis that runs from north to south, to… Zaporizhia Front. In the north by Cremina The Russians built up a large force to launch an offensive of their own.

It was now over without any definite results, and they moved large parts of the forces south to the Zaporizhzhya Front.

The Russians have deployed such large forces in Novoprokopivkasouth Robot eyes And abovethat Ukrainian progress has slowed down here.

Instead, Ukraine has made progress west of Robotyn, and is advancing south between Novoprokopivka and Verbovy.

If the Russians fail to stop this advance, the Ukrainians will make a breakthrough in this direction Tokmok.

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It opens up opportunities elsewhere

The fact that the Russians are massing large portions of their forces between the Tokmak and Ukrainian forces opens up opportunities elsewhere along the front.

The Russians brought in troops from other front sections, for example Kremina, but they also deployed large parts of their existing reserves.

Restricting Russian reserves is an essential part of the Ukrainian strategy in this attack.

Ukrainian forces have taken advantage of the fact that the Russians are reducing their forces by launching attacks elsewhere along the front.

They especially flourished north Donetsk Airport And south Bakhmut.

Third battle for Donetsk Airport

In Donetsk, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian forces north of Donetsk airport.

In the settlement annoyed Ukrainian forces put pressure on the Russians.

The Russians’ strategy can be described as a defense zone where every square centimeter must be defended, they must not retreat – and if they are repulsed, there must be an immediate counterattack to regain lost positions.

This resulted in the Russian forces in Obitny waiting a long time to withdraw.

When they finally received permission to withdraw, it was so disorganized that a few hundred Russians ran back in a disorganized retreat. When Russian drone operators saw such a large force running, they thought it was a Ukrainian attack and called in artillery fire against their forces, inflicting heavy casualties on their ranks.

After that, there were attacks in both directions and the front now stood at Obitny.

If Ukraine liberates Obitny, they will be just north of Donetsk airport, and we may be approaching a third battle for control of Donetsk airport.

Donetsk airport is a symbolic place in this war.

This is how “new” Ukrainian fighter aircraft can change the dynamics on the battlefield

The Russian intelligence operation that led to the annexation Crimea And occupy parts of Donbass Started in February 2014.

However, the first real battle of the war did not occur until after Ukraine held a presidential election and elected Petro Poroshenko.

When Russian forces attempted to take control of Donetsk airport on May 26, 2014, Poroshenko chose to deploy air forces and attacked Russian forces with drones. Mi-24 combat helicopters And Su-25 attack aircraft.

Russian forces were repulsed and Ukraine won the first battle for control of Donetsk airport. This was an important signal from the Ukrainian authorities that they did not accept that the Russians were trying to infiltrate and occupy ever-larger areas. They wanted to defend Ukrainian lands.

In September 2014, the second battle for Donetsk Airport began.

This time with much larger Russian forces. The fighting here was particularly fierce, and the Ukrainian forces here were nicknamed cyborgs, and they launched an inhuman resistance against the superior force.

Filmed in “Cyborg: Heroes Never Die” In 2017.

Ukrainian advance south of Bakhmut

In recent days, Ukraine has liberated the cities Klychevka And Andreevka South of Bakhmut.

This means that they have now liberated the entire area west of the railway line extending south from Bakhmut. This opens the way for the Ukrainians to advance towards the northeast annoyed (Opytne is different from Donetsk Airport) directly south of Bakhmut and south towards Kurdyumivka.

This progress also means that the Russian situation in Bakhmut is becoming increasingly difficult.

Ukraine already controls many of the highlands surrounding the city, and if it now captures Obiten, the tactical encirclement of Bakhmut is approaching.

True encirclement of units rarely occurs in modern warfare.

But that actually happened when Ukrainian forces liberated Andreyevka. A Russian force was surrounded and urged by the Ukrainians to surrender because their situation was hopeless. Part of the Russian forces decided to surrender, but when they began to move towards the Ukrainian forces, they were attacked by Russian artillery fire.

A Russian recruitment video indicating another goal of the war sparked reactions on social media.

Taking their own lives

This is not the first time we have seen a video of Russian forces killing their forces who are trying to surrender or retreat.

We don’t know how widespread the siege forces and attacks on surrendering forces were, but we have seen some videos and more written reports from Ukrainian soldiers.

This says something about the brutality of the Russian side in this war. We can only imagine what this does to morale and motivation among Russian forces.

In the battles of Klichchiivka and Andrijivka, it was the 72nd Brigade that was surrounded.

The Ukrainians point out that this brigade was eliminated and its leadership killed in combat. Most of the soldiers who wanted to surrender succeeded and received medical assistance from Ukrainian forces, although some died. Those who tried to escape were attacked by Ukrainian drones.

The Russians attempted a counterattack on Andreevka and deployed the 31st Airborne Brigade, but here too the command was killed in action and large parts of the division were wiped out.

How big are the reserves left by the Russians?

The big question is how many reserves do the Russians have now?

It is impossible to say anything with certainty, but there are still some indications that they are struggling to have enough forces to deal with all the forward sections where the Ukrainians are making advances.

Russian detachments brought in from the Kremina front in the north were replaced by a new detachment that was undergoing training in Belarus and was not supposed to be ready until November. Being sent to the front earlier than planned is a bad sign for them.

The collapse and errant artillery bombardment on the Special Forces in Opytne is also an indication that departments and officers are inexperienced, lacking in training, or completely exhausted and making poor decisions.

In any case, it is a clear indication that things are not as they should be.

Russian soldiers complain, through various channels on the Telegram application, about the lack of treatment for injured Russian soldiers. Complaints are made that it is probably worse now, because healthy soldiers are being sent to the front as infantrymen.

There are reports of drivers, logistics workers and gunners being late to man the trenches.

It is especially interesting that the artillerymen lag behind the front as infantrymen. Artillery is extremely crucial to Russian doctrine, so if they are assigned other missions, it is a clear indication that they either lack artillery or grenade systems.

When the war began, Russia had severe artillery superiority.

It was crucial, among other things, when they took Sevgerodonetsk. In recent months, there have been reports of artillery equaling, or even superior to, Ukrainian artillery in some forward sections.

It would be amazingly good news, and if the Russians used artillerymen as infantrymen, it might indicate that this is true.

Ukrainian drones wreak havoc on Russian artillery systems and HIMRAS and Storm Shadow are destroying ammunition depots near and far from the front.

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The naval war is getting worse for the Russians

After Ukraine destroyed a Kilo-class submarine and a large landing ship, I wrote that Ukraine was on the cusp of winning the Black Sea battle.

It is an impression that is reinforced.

Ukraine carried out attacks against four corvettes in the western Black Sea in recent days, damaging two of them, according to it. There are photos indicating the Russians towing a damaged Corvette to the port of Sevastopol, so the reports are credible.

With burning shipwrecks lying in dry docks, the Russians no longer had the opportunity to repair ships in Sevastopol.

Not that I would use those dry docks which they clearly can’t protect with anti-aircraft.

Things are going from bad to worse for the Russian Navy.

Ukrainian intelligence reports that attacks by naval drones will increase. This is probably true because they received an industrial 3D printer from the USA which makes the production of these drones faster.

It appears that all Russian ships that attempted to patrol the northwestern Black Sea were attacked. This indicates that the Russians are losing their ability to be present in this region.

It increases the possibility of Ukrainians operating small boats along the coast of the Crimean Peninsula and carrying out raids, landing special forces or supplying equipment to the rebels.

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Ukraine wins the Battle of the Black Sea

New Norwegian contribution

It is very pleasing that Norway is among the countries providing the most per capita support to Ukraine, although Denmark may have surpassed us with its new contribution yesterday, among other things, with tanks.

Norway is one of the countries with the largest increase in income as a result of the war, so it is reasonable to make an additional effort to end the war more quickly by supporting Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense announced this yesterday Norway supplies 50 tracked transport vehicles Type NM199 to Ukraine.

This doesn’t sound very violent in itself, but this is a very important contribution.

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Here, Ukraine’s war materials flow through central Narvik

They provide the opportunity to obtain supplies regardless of road connections. A very important tool when Ukraine reclaims areas that have been severely damaged and supply lines that can be demanding.

Although the Norwegian contribution is strong, it is necessary to establish a new production line for 155 mm artillery shells at NAMMO, close Norwegian ports to Russian ships and contribute further to strengthening the Ukrainian Air Force.