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| 'The offensive continues.' What will happen after the liberation of Avdievka |
| 2024-02-18 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Andrey Kots [RIA] Russian troops occupied the city. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the armed forces liberated an area of more than 31 square kilometers. And earlier, the Ukrainian command announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were leaving their positions. Read about how this will affect the situation in the conflict zone in the RIA Novosti article. 31 sq. km is roughly, a township "Powerful Knot" Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported today on the success to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The settlement taken under control, according to the department, was “a powerful defensive hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” “Currently, measures are being taken to completely clear the city of militants and to block Ukrainian units that have left the city and settled at the Avdievka coking plant,” the press release says. They also explained that the liberation of Avdievka made it possible to move the front line away from Donetsk, which had been shelled from this city for a long time. And Russian troops “continue offensive actions to further liberate” the DPR. By mid-February, the situation of the Avdievka garrison had turned from difficult to critical. The assault units of the Russian army have practically closed the encirclement ring around the city, coming very close to the settlement of Lastochkino. The last road to the west passed through it, along which units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were supplied. At the same time, the Ukrainian military was forced out of a number of well-equipped positions, in particular from the Zenit fortified area south of Avdievka and from the forest belt to the north-west. The group, in fact, was divided into two parts. The first tried to escape from the city. Accurate strikes were immediately carried out on the retreating scattered units. The second part of the garrison, the backbone of which consists of soldiers of the 3rd separate assault brigade, settled on the territory of the Avdeevsky coke plant. Commander-in-Chief Syrsky sent this elite formation of the Ukrainian army to help the besieged garrison. However, the attack aircraft were almost immediately surrounded. Now they are hiding in the basements and bunkers of the enterprise and recording videos calling for them to be evacuated or released. Thus, the situation with Azovstal is mirrored, where Azov militants hid underground for several weeks until, as a result of negotiations, they were “evacuated” from there into Russian captivity. HOW WE WON Aviation played one of the main roles in the liberation of Avdiivka. From the very beginning of the operation on October 10 last year, front-line Su-34 bombers daily “treated” the fortified area with high-explosive bombs equipped with universal planning and correction modules. The UMPC allowed aircraft to carry out strikes without the risk of coming under enemy air defense fire. The power of 500-kilogram bombs was quite enough to level the concrete fortifications of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which otherwise would have had to be stormed head-on. The artillerymen also did an excellent job, significantly ahead of the Ukrainians in terms of howitzer salvo weight. Near Avdievka, it was possible to implement a full-fledged reconnaissance and fire contour, in which a matter of minutes passed from detecting a target to its destruction. This seriously complicated the movement of the Wehrmacht and made it difficult to transport ammunition. The gunners received a lot of help from FPV drone operators. On the Russian side, there were many times more drones in the Avdeevsky direction. But the assault infantry undoubtedly played the first role. Russian soldiers, without unnecessary haste, methodically took fortified area after fortified area, bypassing the city from the north and south in order to close the encirclement to the west. Attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to stop them ended in nothing. And when the foot soldiers planted the Russian flag at the stele at the entrance to Avdievka, where Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had recently been photographed, it became finally clear that the city would soon fall. The liberation of Avdievka will partially stop the threat of shelling of Donetsk, since shells have been launched from here since 2014. But, most likely, this will not collapse the front and will not lead to the collapse of Kiev. However, Ukraine does not have a second such powerful fortified area as near Donetsk. It is quite possible that it will be easier for the Russian army to advance further. |
| Posted by:badanov |