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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Koksohim is the new Azovstal. What to take in Avdievka
2023-10-13
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Sergey Adamov

[REGNUM] Russian troops continue to develop their offensive in the Avdievka direction. Intending to liberate Avdievka (the city from whose territory Ukrainian troops have been shelling Donetsk for many years), the advancing forces of the 1st Donetsk Army Corps seek to encircle the enemy group.

In some sectors of the front, Russian troops managed to penetrate the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 300 to 600 meters, Vadim Astafiev, head of the press center of the Southern Group of Forces , told RIA Novosti . According to him, military operations are taking place in the area of ​​​​the settlements of Mar'inka, Vodyanoye, Spornoe and Tonenkoye.

Officials in the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acknowledge the intensification of hostilities in the Donetsk direction, but continue to reassure the audience with messages that “all attacks have been repulsed.”

According to Regnum news agency , the plan to encircle the enemy group in Avdeevka provides for simultaneous coverage from the north and south. In the north, Russian troops are moving in the direction from Krasnogorovka to Stepovoye, trying to gain a foothold in the area of ​​​​the railway tracks leading from Avdievka to Ocheretino.

At the same time, an offensive is developing from the Vodyanoye area towards the village of Severnoye. In this area, the attacking forces managed to move forward and gain a foothold.

“Many have written about taking control of the village of Vodyanoye, but I’ll say right away that in general it was ours. It must be said that the village as such no longer exists, only ruins . But now they are not at the forefront with us, but rather in the operational rear, given recent successes. I won’t give an exact link to the promotion, but there is movement,” a source told IA Regnum.

North of Avdievka there is also a certain advance of Russian troops, which the enemy also indirectly recognizes. A number of analysts, recording changes in the front-line situation based on data from open sources, were forced to admit the fact of the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from positions south and north of Avdievka.

Success was achieved due to the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdrew part of the forces from the Donetsk direction to the Zaporozhye sector of the front, as well as to the north - to the areas of Artyomovsk and Kupyansk. The Ukrainian side is especially worried about the lack of artillery, which was “pulled apart on other fronts.”

However, all this does not mean that the enemy intends to surrender without a fight, and immediate and certain success awaits Russian troops.

WHO, WHERE AND WITH WHAT FORCES GAINED A FOOTHOLD IN AVDIEVKA
According to information from the field, Avdeevka and nearby settlements are held by units of the 1st Special Purpose Brigade, the 110th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (one of the formations created in Ukraine after the start of the Northern Military District), as well as the 3rd Battalion of the 129th Territorial Defense Brigade (possibly other battalions) and detachments of foreign mercenaries.

The total number of contingents varies from 10,000 to 15,000 people, depending on which areas are included in the Avdeevsky fortified area.

“The enemy uses FPV drones, anti-tank systems, including foreign ones ,” a source told IA Regnum . According to his assessment, Ukrainian troops were dug in very firmly in some areas. “They understand very well the strategic importance of the fortified area, so they will fight as long as they have the opportunity,” the interlocutor notes.

The main center of the enemy’s defense is the Avdievka coke plant, which over the years of hostilities has been transformed into a continuous fortified area.

In the workshops and underground structures of Koksokhim, the enemy has created ammunition and fuel depots, which are regularly targeted by Russian artillery strikes. Even after the successful completion of the operation to encircle Avdeevka, individual enemy formations will be able to hold the defense for a long time, by analogy with the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

WHAT IS REQUIRED TO TAKE A CITY INTO A RING?
Control over the settlements of Severnoye and Tonenkoye to the west of Avdeevka will allow us to take the main enemy supply routes in Avdeevka under fire control.

With the capture of the villages of Stepovoe and Berdychi, Avdievka will be cut off from supplies from the north, after which it will be possible to claim the first serious success of the Avdeevka operation.

The encirclement ring will be finally closed after the forces of the Russian army advancing from the north and south meet in the area of ​​​​the settlement of Orlovka.

“I’m not sure that the enemy troops will begin to retreat even after the ring begins to slowly become clearer and clearer,” comments IA Regnum source . He explains: in Kyiv they will not accept the surrender of Avdeevka, because it is an image loss, and even against the backdrop of the “amazing successes” of the Zaporozhye offensive.

“So the order to withdraw may come too late, when the encirclement is completed,” the source believes.

At the same time, Russian troops, most likely, will not storm the well-fortified positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city itself and at the Koksohim plant, firing at enemy positions and forcing them to surrender.

THE KUPYANSK DIRECTION IS HELD BY TIRED “AIR BURIAL GROUNDS”
At the same time, Russian troops are not concentrating on one specific direction and are developing offensive actions on other fronts.

Thus, to the north, in the Kupyansk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were forced to abandon a number of positions in the area of ​​settlements at the Sinkovka-Petropavlovka line and retreat. This was announced on October 12 by retired Lieutenant Colonel of the People's Militia of the LPR Andrey Marochko.

According to his information, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units operating in the Kupyansk direction have partially lost their combat effectiveness, since due to previously suffered losses they are being staffed by mobilized units who do not have real combat training.

Some enemy formations in the Kupyansk direction have indeed weakened, comments IA Regnum source operating in this direction.

The most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, armed with Western-made armored vehicles, were involved in fruitless attempts to advance in the Zaporozhye direction. Separate formations were transferred to the Artyomovsk area, so in the Kupyansk area the Ukrainian Armed Forces are supplied “on a residual basis.”

“Of all the units trained according to NATO standards, only the Swedes from the 21st Brigade, who had been beaten more than once before, stood out. There weren’t any significant rotations either, there is the Khar'kov Terrestrial Defense Force, and also the “airborne troops” (the nickname for the airmobile - airborne troops of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. - Note by IA Regnum ), in my opinion, from the 92nd Brigade. Everyone has been hanging out here for a long time, they are clearly tired. So their morale is really not up to par,” the source said.

Previously, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine several times promised the units operating in the Kupyansk direction to carry out a full rotation. However, this was repeatedly hampered by operations carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in other sectors of the front, which “ate up” the existing reserves.

The units that took the most active part in the summer battles are on rotation and cannot be quickly transferred to any sector of the front.

Thus, the command of the Russian army “stretches” the enemy’s forces, not giving them the opportunity to form a new fist for a counterattack. Therefore, even if it is not possible to achieve decisive success in one of the offensive sectors in the short term, a breakthrough of the enemy’s defense may occur in another area.

As experts state, after the summer defeats, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost the initiative and are now forced to go on the defensive everywhere.

Posted by:badanov

#1  Umhuh🙄 the various videos and images from Mil Twitter point to an unmitigated catastrophe for the Russians. But whatever🧐
Posted by: Percy Flotle3938   2023-10-13 07:32  

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