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Surrendering positions in panic and without a fight: Russian troops are smashing the Ukrainian forces in west Donbass
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.by Sergey Adamov [REGNUM] While the world is closely watching the clash between Israel and Iran, events in the SVO zone are developing very rapidly - and in favor of the Russian Armed Forces.  Over the past week, our troops have liberated a number of settlements in the DPR - near the border with the Dnepropetrovsk region and on the approaches to Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), advanced into the border area of the Sumy region and inflicted serious damage on the enemy's logistics in key areas of the front. The main success of Russian troops at the end of last week was the liberation of the village of Komar, 78 kilometers west of Donetsk. In recent months, Komar has been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as the main stronghold in the western part of Donbas. The village, which is located near the strategically important highway H15 Donetsk-Zaporozhye, was liberated by fighters of the 336th separate marine brigade. In Komar, a fairly large and well-fortified settlement, assault units had to clear out more than 1.1 thousand buildings. Several dozen enemy armored vehicles were destroyed. A little later, the fighters moved to the villages of Fedorovka and Perebudova, which are located to the south and north of Komar, respectively. At the final stage of the assault, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units found themselves in a fire pocket and, in panic, surrendered some of their positions without a fight. The enemy's attempts to counterattack and regain control of the settlement were thwarted. Having lost several units of armored vehicles, the Ukrainian troops were forced to retreat. Madyar is left without "poultry farmers" The enemy withdrew its main forces to the area of the village of Voskresenka near the border with the Dnepropetrovsk region, where the retreating units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces took a beating. “A FAB strike was carried out on Voskresenka, as a result of which a platoon of the 3rd mechanized battalion of the enemy’s 141st infantry brigade, as well as operators of the 414th separate unmanned systems brigade, were destroyed,” the Defense Ministry reported. It is noteworthy that the military department's report specifically mentioned the enemy's 414th brigade, a unit that specializes in the targeted use of drones. The airstrike killed experienced drone operators, leaving Ukrainian troops in this section of the front without the necessary support, a frontline source told IA Regnum. "The brigade, also known as the " Birds of Madyar ", is a professional unit, it really does have specialists in both the development and use of unmanned aerial vehicles. They are sent in measured doses to the most threatened areas. Now we can see a decrease in the activity of enemy drones in our area," the agency's interlocutor said. WHY TARNAVSKY WAS FIRED According to sources on the ground, by driving the enemy out of the village of Komar, Russian troops have seriously disrupted the enemy's logistics in the far west of Donbass, near the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region. Combat operations continue in the area of the border villages of Shevchenko, Malinovka, Volnoye Pole, Zelenoe Pole and Novoye Pole. Here, due to the disruption of supply chains, the enemy has stopped receiving reinforcements and ammunition in the required volume. The main task of Russian troops in this section of the front remains the creation of a buffer zone in the territory of the adjacent region in order to protect the settlements of Donbass from shelling and invasion attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In order to accomplish the task of clearing the eastern part of the DPR, the forces of the "Vostok" group will have to drive the enemy out of the settlements of Mirnoye and Poddubnoye, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces have turned into a fortified area. Against the backdrop of failures at the front, the commander of the Donetsk group of Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, was dismissed from his post – formally at his own request (Ukrainian media reported that the general complained of “deteriorating health”). Tarnavsky held this post for only six months. Before him, Donetsk was headed by General Alexander Lutsenko, but in mid-December 2024 he was dismissed - "for the sum of his merits". It was Lutsenko who was one of the organizers of the failed "counteroffensive" in the Zaporizhia region in the summer of 2023, but the last straw was the advance of the Russian Armed Forces in December last year. Let us recall that then our troops liberated the city of Kurakhovo and pushed the front to Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk). Now, after another advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the west of the DPR with an “entry” into the Dnepropetrovsk region, it is the turn of another general. Now the group of troops is headed by Major General Viktor Nikolyuk, who previously held the position of Chief of Staff of the Donetsk group. However, Ukrainian media doubt that the appointment of a new commander will change the situation on the front. "SOLID AGGLOMERATION" Another success of Russian troops in Donbass was the liberation of the settlement of Malinovka east of the city of Krasnoarmeysk. The Ukrainian Armed Forces units holding the village abandoned their positions and retreated towards Novoekonomicheskoe. Earlier, Russian troops also liberated the village of Mirolyubovka in this direction, approaching Novoekonomicheskoe from the south. To the north, assault units crossed the Chaplin Yar River and are advancing in the direction of Novotoretskoe-Razino. According to information from the field, the village may be semi-encircled in the foreseeable future. "In essence, we are already talking about the suburbs of Krasnoarmeysk. The city has a satellite Mirnograd, which is adjoined to the east by Novoekonomicheskoe. That is, it is a solid agglomeration. But we have already said, we will repeat once again: until the communications are cut, there is no need to expect an assault on the city. Now they are bypassing Pokrovsk in order to encircle the enemy in the city," a source of IA Regnum reports. According to his assessment, the enemy is not attempting a counteroffensive in this direction. In the spring, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group was tasked with not only holding Krasnoarmeysk, but also dislodging Russian troops from their previously occupied positions. However, since then, the Russian Armed Forces have been able to launch an offensive on the city from the east, liberating dozens of settlements. So today, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command faces the prospect of encirclement and subsequent loss of the city, which is a vital logistical hub and stronghold. "BUFFER" APPROACHES SUMY In parallel with the offensive in Donbas, an operation to create a buffer zone in the Sumy region is ongoing. After the liberation of the settlements of Andreevka and Alekseevka, Russian troops continued their offensive along the H-07 highway in the direction of Korchakivka. A number of sources report that Russian troops have begun an assault on the enemy's second line of defense in this area. According to unconfirmed reports, assault units of the Russian army managed to penetrate the defensive lines of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the section of the front between the villages of Pisarevka and Mala Korchakovka. There are also reports of the start of hostilities in the area of the village of Miropolye, where Russian troops were also able to push back the enemy. Local Ukrainian administrations and the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sumy direction are preparing for the development of the Russian army's offensive. In the Sumy and Shostka districts, 60 settlements were immediately declared evacuated. At the same time, the southern border of the evacuation zone adjoins the outskirts of the city of Sumy. Ukrainian media claim that most of the local residents have already left the dangerous areas. The fact that the enemy considers the situation in this direction threatening is evidenced by the fact that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since June 16, began reporting in its daily reports on the progress of military operations in another combat direction - the North Slobozhansky. Preparing a bridgehead for a new offensive in this section of the front, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched several strikes against the enemy's rear. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' location near the Makovo railway station and the former Shostka penal colony were hit. Ukrainian sources fear that the front in this section may "crumble", while the main reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are being spent on futile attempts to break through to Russian territory in other parts of the border. A similar opinion is expressed in Western media. Thus, The New York Times in an article from June 14 noted that the offensive that began in May, in which the main bet is on mobile, fast-moving units, led to the undermining of Ukrainian defenses in the area of Pokrovsk, Konstantinovka in Donbass and Sumy Oblast. Posted by: badanov 2025-06-18 |
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