My own take is that the operation north of Pokrovsk was designed to draw in and destroy the bulk of remaining Ukrainian assault forces. That appears to be in the mopping-up stages now. With little capacity for manuever and counter-attack in the future, the next stage of the war will devolve into embattled Ukrainian garrisons trying to cope with Russian infiltration in between their major positions, as they are cut off from resupply.
I agree that Odessa is a likely target. Although it wasn't part of the original vision of the SMO, taking the rest of the Black Sea coast will link up Russia with Transnistria. More important, it will eliminate the use of Ukrainian seaports as logistics hubs in the event of a future invasion by NATO. That would force them to rely on overland (rail/road) logistics to support an invasion into the Russian heartland.
You are correct - Pokrosk is a “moth to Light” operation, drawing in whatever Ukraine can find to send.
I follow about two dozen sources. Some are blogs, others are channels, and I search for news on different areas of the front by googling and then reading thru lots of EU news. I don’t read anything form Britian. I follow a couple of youtube channels. Usually I have to google for cities. And yea, I copy stuff into a word document for this and cobbled together a narrative of what has happened from spring thru October for just three areas of the front. This article I wrote comes from about 10 different sources. Almost everything has already happened. My zeeper hater’s seem to never research anything, and have resorted again today with personal attacks. Had it not been for Zeepers and their combination of personal attacks and false information, I would have never gotten interested in finding the truth about this conflict.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQhw-mnBx-Y
https://liveuamap.com/ a good source everyday - you can then follow primary sources to blogger channels. It is literally a rabbit hunt
Ukraine is constantly under the threat of encirclement. Kupiance will fall in a matter of a wekk or so. From there they will be pushing the uke’s across the Oscal River.
Ukraine is never allowed to retreat.
I used to go directly to the Russian Government website but it is shuf off now, or the links that would give information.
Pokrosk is now 50% under Russian control, and due to their encirclement to the north, the defeat of the Ukrainian counterattacks, and Russia is just happy to bleed Ukraine.
Ukraine is a like a moth to light, and the Russians are moving slowly in Pokrosk, but they are moving faster thru Zaproshiza.
The entire operation has been "draw in and destroy." IMO planned as such. Russia just moved their borders a bit to the left, creating a black hole that sucked up hundreds of billions in NATO money, thousands of tons of equipment and uncountable thousands of Ukrainian lives.
As with all our s**thole wars over the last decades, we have nothing to show for it. Our cbicken-s**t neocons seem to love failure and generational theft.
I agree that Odessa is a likely target.
If the math works, Russia would be foolish, at this point, not to take it. It RUSSIAN.
Zelensky, the NWO and dum-fk American pols could have prevented it, but annexation likely inevitable now.