Article is from 1/23/23, 16 days ago. As of 2/7/23, the map looked like this:
Posted on 02/08/2023 6:41:00 PM PST by JonPreston
Communiqués from the Ukrainian General Staff indicate that Russian forces are tightening their grip around Bakhmut. Enemy subunits are being held back on the north-western outskirts of the town (Krasna Hora, Paraskoviivka, Yahidne) and south of the Bakhmut-Kostiantynivka road, including on the western side of the Donets-Donbas canal (Predtechyne, Stupochky), which they have now crossed. The Russians are also expanding the area of their assault to the northwest of Soledar, where they have crossed the Bakhmut-Siversk road at Vasyukivka. The aggressor’s offensive is being contained south and east of Siversk, in the Avdiivka area, and in an arc west of Donetsk, where fighting for control of the city of Marinka continues. Clashes have also occurred in the Luhansk oblast, on the border with Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts; the fighting there is mainly taking place between Kreminna and Siversk.
Reports that fighting in the Zaporizhzhia oblast resumed in mid-January remain unconfirmed. According to the Ukrainian command, the enemy is conducting battle reconnaissance and trying to improve its tactical situation. Russian attacks on the defenders’ positions occur regularly, but they have been carried out in small groups, and no offensive actions on a larger scale have been reported. The regions of the nodal towns of Kamianske (on the River Dnieper, 30 km south of Zaporizhzhia), Orikhiv and Huliaipole have been indicated as the main targets of the Russian strike. The attackers have been making field advances south of these towns, most likely by seizing part of an earlier strip of no-man’s land.
(Excerpt) Read more at osw.waw.pl ...
“No idea how reliable.”
DPA leans a bit towards Ukraine, from what I’ve seen, although they do try to report accurately...so if they are reporting it, it’s likely true.
“Please forgive the “spamming”
Why? The reverend mother and the rest get away with spamming all the time. And you are concerned with a couple of valid links?
BTW..I have watched the Austrian site for some time.
Which reminds me, I have not talked to my Austrian contact in a while.
Article is from 1/23/23, 16 days ago. As of 2/7/23, the map looked like this:
Thank you for the ping!
Bobl “The capture of Bakhmut pretty much sets the stage for the complete liberation of the Donbass.”
Unless the Ukrainians use it to free the Donbas from Putin’s control, that liberation of the Donbas from Putin’s army is a way off.
Strategically for Russians Bakhmut is of little importance. There is a road that goes from Lysychansk and could be used to supply the area from another direction and such, but overall the military importance of Bakhmut does not justify the blood being spilled to take it.
Bakhmut is of local importance to the battle for Donbass, because it is essentially a fortress in the middle of a valley separating the Russian hills from the Ukrainian hills. The Ukrainian fire support positions are located along the entire ridge line west of Bakhmut.
That is not to say the fall of Bakhmut wouldn’t be dramatic. The area behind the town is sparsely settled and difficult to defend, Ukrainian front line would collapse for tens of kilometers towards Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. Those cities are even more heavily fortified than Bakhmut, Ukraine spent the better part of last eight years preparing to defend them from Russians. Assaulting those two fortresses would make Bahkmut and Mariupol seem like a cakewalk. This means losing Bakhmut wouldn’t be a catastrophe for Ukrainians, it would just look dramatic.
This is what Russians are truly after - a win that looks dramatic on a map that they can spin to their public, shore up support for the war, show to their people that Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson were mere setbacks, that Russia is still powerful and can make gains in spite of stiff Ukrainian opposition. Political concerns trump military concerns, because Russian domestic front is under immense strain right now
Thus far Russian efforts in Bakhmut make German efforts in Stalingrad and Kursk look like lightning campaigns by comparison.
Russians have been assaulting Bakhmut since August 1st and managed to reach the main defensive line two times thus far. They were thrown back within days and never even managed to start probing the principal defense perimeter. What they took in other words weren’t the main fortifications, but fallback positions, built to buy defenders time and increase casualties of the attackers.
At least at Stalingrad, German forces generally advanced, slowly but surely. They held approximately 90% of the city after three months.
In comparison it has taken Putin’s army 7 months to even come this close.
The Russians have still lost a lot of territory compared to their maximum advances. So they may lose this battle but it won’t be decisive for the war. The Russians are simply trying to grind down the Ukrainians. It might work, but if the Ukrainians acquire the armor and ability to maneuver, the Russians will be in deep trouble.
[Thank you for the ping!]
Defense Politics Asia (DPA) has been, and continues to be the Only source that consistently brings the Facts on the ground. 👍
This war will terminate when Joe Biden’s regime terminates. The war will end in 2024 after Biden is out of office.
“Russia will find some way to lose”
So why do they keep finding ways to win?
And a year from now, Pusty will be saying “Its over”....
“The territory annexed by Russia is never going back to Ukraine.”
Yeah you said that about Kherson too...
“It was a “mop up operation” last March”
Helluva spill in the milk aisle I guess....
The office will remain in Democratic hands.
….from the article “ This is because Kyiv is consistently trying to prevent the loss of any further territory in the Donbas and to maintain the appearance in the new media that the defence is being conducted effectively (for example, the Ukrainian media have still not officially confirmed the loss of Soledar)..”
It is more obvious everyday, the Ukies are spent, a corrupted welfare begging nation… and western MSM is like Trump said long ago “ fake news”…
Ukraine 1991-2023 RIP
I hope the Ukrainians leave behind plenty of surprises for the barbarian hordes.
That's what they did in Kiev for the Nazis, they had booby-trapped a lot of the buildings that went off after the Nazis had moved in.
Reminds me of Mariupol.
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