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'The first blow was repulsed, the enemy is suffering losses.' What did the day of the 'offensive' of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Sergey Adamov and Mikail Zakharov

[REGNUM] The Armed Forces of Ukraine are switching to offensive operations "in some directions," Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar said on the evening of June 5 . The head of the Kiev Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Kuleba , claims that the Ukrainian army has received enough Western weapons for a counteroffensive. “There is nothing significant left that needs to be achieved,” TASS quoted Kuleba .

The Russian military reports that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already made an attempt to launch a large-scale counteroffensive in five sectors of the front in the Yuzhno-Donets direction - this happened on the morning of June 4. In particular, the 23rd and 31st Mechanized brigades from the strategic reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were introduced into the battle with the support of other units, said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov.

As a result of the battle, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 16 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 21 armored vehicles and 250 personnel, excluding the wounded. “The enemy did not achieve his tasks, he had no success,” the Ministry of Defense stated.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE "VREMEVSKY LEDGE"
The enemy has been accumulating forces over the past weeks in the area of ​​the settlement of Velikaya Novoselka (southwest of the DPR) and today brought part of the forces into battle, a source told IA Regnum, located on the front in the Zaporozhye region.

"In the morning, artillery preparation began, then armored vehicles, including Western-made ones, were brought into battle," a source from the scene said. "Units of the National Guard of Ukraine and the Marine Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine operate on this sector of the front. We repulsed the first blow, the enemy suffers heavy losses on peaceful fields and as a result of our artillery fire. I won’t give exact numbers, but they have big losses."

According to the interlocutor of IA Regnum , on June 6, we should expect new attempts by the enemy to move forward in the Velika Novoselka area or on another sector of the front on the border of the DPR and the Zaporozhye region.

The source of IA Regnum believes that what was observed on the Zaporozhye sector of the front is not yet an expected major enemy offensive. “They try their hand, watch how we respond. But the main forces have not yet been brought into battle, while reconnaissance in force is rather underway, the interlocutor believes. - Therefore, in the coming days, maybe even tomorrow, we should expect new offensive actions in our area. We are preparing for this. But for now, it’s impossible to say that the offensive has been thwarted, it is just beginning, ” the source told IA Regnum.

The site near Velika Novoselka, located next to Vremovka, is called the "Vremevsky ledge". It was here that on June 4, especially active battles began and continued from the early morning of June 5. The enemy threw into battle even greater forces than the day before, said Vladimir Rogov , leader of the Zaporozhye movement "Together with Russia" .

To the east of the "Vremevsky ledge" is also restless. In the DPR, over the past two days, the enemy has twice attempted to develop an offensive on the South Donetsk sector of the front - from Vuhledar (a city in the south-west of Donetsk, controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine), as well as to break through in the direction of the village of Vodiane to the west of Avdiivka. This was announced on June 5 by the acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.

The main direction of attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine passes through the village of Novodonetskoye in the Volnovakha region (southwest of the DPR), RT notes . It was in this area that Leopard tanks supplied by Germany were spotted, Alexander Khodakovsky, deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard for the DPR, said on his Telegram channel.

“The enemy managed to cling to Novodonetskoye, but he paid a considerable price: about ten units of destroyed armored vehicles were confirmed, including one tank, dozens of those killed ... In general, today the balance is in favor of the enemy, but he failed to significantly delve into our territory,” wrote Khodakovsky on the evening of June 5.

THE FIRST "GERMANS". OR "FRENCH"
"For the first time, Leopards were seen in our tactical area ... Up to thirty armored vehicles were recorded in the Novodonetsk area alone," Khodakovsky said in his Telegram channel.

Later, the first photographs of Western-made tanks used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine during offensive operations in the Yuzhno-Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions also appeared on the Internet. One of the tanks was presumably abandoned by the crew. A number of sources recognized the German tank Leopard 2 in the car.

But, as a military expert and author of a number of articles on the subject of the military-industrial complex Maxim Tumbartsev suggested in a comment to IA Regnum, most likely, French AMX-10 tanks were used by the enemy.

"The published photos are not of very high quality. However, a number of signs indicate that this is still a French vehicle. If we take the projection of the "Leopard" from above and compare it with the picture, we can see that the car does not have a gun ejector in the photo, and the barrel is too long. On the other hand, the shape of the tank's turret in some elements is more like the French tank AMX-10," Tumbartsev said. According to him, some colleagues were confused by the tank's camouflage - sandy, not typical for France (they have black and green) or for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which use "pixel" camouflage.

"However, most likely, the vehicle, the photo of which appeared on the Web, is painted in the brown Brun Terre de France camouflage, which should become the main one in the French army by 2024. Tanks AMX-10 in such colors “shone” in France at the parade in 2021 and in Estonia at NATO exercises," the expert noted.

APU IN SEARCH OF A WEAK LINK
The forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reinforced by armored vehicles, including Western ones, seek to strike in different directions, in order to then concentrate the main forces on the weakest sector and go on the offensive, military observer Mikhail Onufrienko told IA Regnum .

"It is most reasonable for the enemy to strike in different places, creating a local superiority of forces, and then throwing the main forces for a breakthrough to the most advantageous area, where the offensive is developing most successfully. Apparently, this is happening now", - the expert expressed the opinion. "There's an offensive going on in half a dozen places. It is clear that in Avdievka it is not of a strategic nature - there the task of breaking through our defense line and reaching Donetsk is unrealistic."

Against this background, the previous actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Belgorod direction - sabotage, "visits" and shelling - appear to be an attempt to disperse the forces of the Russian Armed Forces and divert attention, Onufrienko noted. "Also, obviously, there will be attempts of larger-scale provocations with landing across the Dnieper, so that at least part of our reserves will be transferred to this direction,"the expert said.

A similar opinion was expressed by military expert Vladislav Shurygin. Two weeks ago, the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to probe the front, trying to find gaps in it.

"Now they have moved on to quite specific strikes. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying, using the classic tactics of the 20th century, to create superiority in people and technology, to create fire superiority, to break through the front," Shurygin told IA Regnum.

The expert adds that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use the classic tactics that are always used by all armies. “We need to create an advantage of about 5:1 in a specific place, accumulate the appropriate amount of artillery and armored vehicles, and then try to break through the front. "They have nowhere to go, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need to attack," concludes the interlocutor.

"The question is the activation of the aviation of the Russian Armed Forces: if it starts to act more actively, then the enemy will have big problems," Onufrienko, in turn, notes. Most likely, in the coming days, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not stop trying to undermine the situation and force the Russian Defense Ministry to transfer military personnel to different sectors, creating an opportunity for maneuver for the main offensive forces. There is no choice in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Kyiv has already put too much at stake, experts point out.


Posted by: badanov 2023-06-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=669061