Posted on 11/01/2025 2:16:35 PM PDT by Navy Patriot
A team of Ukrainian special forces that were rushed to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the city were defeated, the Russian defense ministry said.
Russia wants to take the whole of the Donbas region, which comprises Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Ukraine still controls about 10% of Donbas -- an area of about 1,930 square miles in western Donetsk.
Capturing Pokrovsk, dubbed "the gateway to Donetsk" by Russian media, and Kostiantynivka to its northeast, which Russian forces are also trying to envelop, would give Moscow a platform to drive north towards the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in Donetsk -- Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Ukraine said that it had deployed special forces in Pokrovsk earlier in the week, landing a Black Hawk helicopter. At least 10 Ukrainian servicemen could be seen dismounting from a helicopter in a field in a video seen by Reuters.
Russia's defense ministry said it had killed the group of Ukrainian military intelligence special forces.
"All 11 people who disembarked from the helicopter were killed," the ministry said, adding that Russian forces were pushing forward in Pokrovsk and clearing the area.
Russian forces, it said, had pushed back an attempt by Ukraine's 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skala" to break out of Hryshyne, northwest of Pokrovsk, while the pincer around Ukrainian forces in the area was closing.
Battles around Hryshyne are significant, as they indicate Russian forces are close to cutting off Ukrainian supply lines to Pokrovsk.
To clear both Pokrovsk and nearby Myrnohrad may take some time and delay Russia's formal announcement.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
An estimated 5,500 Ukrainian soldiers trapped there, another 5,000 in Kupiansk, IIRC.
R.I.P., brave special forces launched into a suicide mission.
Ten soldiers aren’t enough to even capture a gas station. Wtf is Z doing, aside from providing a “media victory” for his clueless audiences?
I watched the video. Joking aside, it was a *bad* place to drop especially with something as noisy as a Blackhawk.
Ukraine’s three Blackhawks are all assigned to their intelligence directorate and are generally used for special forces/intel missions. Wouldn’t be the first time intel guys got things wrong and troops died.
“Ten soldiers aren’t enough to even capture a gas station.”
You really think all were videoed?
Well, they were all puffed up when they landed...
Every munitions we waste in Ukraine means we will run out against China when needed. Our victory in WWII in large part was due to something we no longer have and China has in spades. Industrial capacity. Could we out produce the world today like we did in WWII. No way. Politicians and the wealthy sold off out Industrial base to China. I fear we are not capable of winning a sustained conflict against a near peer adversary.
“ You really think all were videoed?”
Special forces by nature are small groups. Even if they missed half if them, it’s still less than two dozen.
POTUS is doing the right thing by focusing on Venezuela. That's in our backyard, and removing Maduro IS in the USA's national interest. Propping up a failed Ukrainian state is not (that's the Europeans' job, per the Trumproe Doctrine).
Many of those you call "Putin Bots" do not support doing anything about communist-led narco-states in our hemisphere. I can discriminate (that used to be a great word, hijacked by commies) between what is good for America and what is not.
Honest straightforward answer:
Word is that the Ukrainian Special Forces mission was to secure and hold an actual gas station, on the highway just South, and slightly West, of the field where they were inserted.
Has anyone else ever thought Putie and Zman conspire to fight just so they can split the funds received from the US Treasury?
Well, if they do, they probably got the idea from Prog Marxist Democrats and their discovery of No Longer Useful Idiots that again become useful when Dead.
Do you know how to tell when a Russian is lying?
Just listen for the phrase Russia Claims, and everything after that is a lie.
Pokrovsk and nearby Myrnohrad may take some time and delay Russia’s formal announcement.”
...as they have for the last 21 months.
Pokrovsk, the larger of the two, had a pre-war population of 60,000, and Russia has incurred more than 70,000 casualties assaulting it, since the launch of this year’s Russian Summer offensive.
As former Seal Team Six Squadron Commander Chuck Pfarrer notes: “it has taken Russia four bloody years to advance from Donetsk to Pokrovsk – a distance that a hiker in peacetime could cover in a day.”
Like the other attritional kill boxes that long Russia mired itself in (like Bakhmut), little will be left of Pokrovsk but rubble.
They put the story on their wire.
All the Ukes are still dead.
And today all the Uke “special forces” are still dead.
LOL, are you really so gullible that you fall for all of Putin’s propaganda?
Except that they aren't. You really can't be dumb enough to fall for every bit of propaganda Putin's crew posts - unless you actually work for them.
Did you get an extra Pelmeni at lunch today?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.