We press on the Kupyansk area, Sinkovki. Serious breakthroughs in the direction of Svatov. Photo: Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / TASS
Western media announced the start of a major “real” offensive by the Ukrainian army, naming Zaporozhye as the main attack direction.
On Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, we discussed the issue with Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military-Political Journalism.
STRONG STRUGGLES IN ZAPORIZHIA
– There are strong battles for Kleshcheevka, we are moving away from Staromayorsky. How complicated is the situation in the directions?
– The enemy continues to attack in the Zaporozhye direction – in the area of Pyatikhatki, Rabotino, Vremevsky ledge. Where the enemy advanced in the first half of June, this is the Ravnopolye region, Storozhevoy, now it has resumed offensive operations. After several days of intense artillery work, the Ukrainian Armed Forces seized the outskirts of Staromayorskoye, destroyed our positions in the village with artillery and crawled into the village.
– It is said that the town is almost destroyed?
– Our positions advanced with mixed artillery, pushing towards the southern outskirts. In the next 2 days, they will try to gain a foothold there and increase the pressure on neighboring Harvest, which they are attacking from the north. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to take it back in June, and now they will increase the pressure on Staromayorsky.
What are they planning next?
– Proceed south to Stromynovka. The objectives are simple: try to move towards the Sea of Azov.
– You didn’t work in June?
– No, and now they are trying to resume the offensive, throwing the remaining reserves into battle. Part of them they spent in June and in the full half of July. They still have some equipment left that they can use in these attempts. But they are making some attempts in other areas of the Zaporozhye direction. There they are even less successful.
ARTEMOV’S DUELS
– Address Artyomovsk?
– Here the enemy began to try to encircle Artemovsk in a semicircle in May. They were advancing to the southwest of the city on those territories that our troops occupied. Now they are trying to occupy some territory in order to enter the city itself. Since then, they have not been able to occupy a single settlement.
– And now?
– Now they are doing everything possible to capture Kleshcheevka. For her, the battles last about a month, before the nearby landings press on. So far, they have not been able to take Kleshcheevka. In addition, the town is attacked by up to two and a half enemy brigades. It’s hard there. North-west of Artemovsk, ours have mostly defended themselves, but here the threat still remains.
LOOK AT KHARKIV
– In the Kharkov direction?
– We pressed on the Kupyansk area, Sinkovki. Serious breakthroughs in the direction of Svatov. In the Novoselovka area there is a breakthrough of 1-2 kilometers per day, we are moving towards Oskol. The enemy lost many positions. We release Sergeevka. Two or three more settlements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine remained. The enemy is slowly retreating there and is transferring reserves there for counterattacks – at least two reserve brigades, which were supposed to be used in Zaporozhye or in the Artemovsky direction.
– So, in the future, access to Kharkov?
– Realistic – access to the river Oskol. This is the launch of another 20-25 settlements on the eastern bank of the Oskol. It will turn out to develop an offensive in the Krasnolimansky direction, occupying Torskoye; there are prospects for new actions. This is an opportunity to get to the northern bank of the Seversky Donets and take control of the Seversk-Belgorovka highway. He takes it under fire control, and it is already problematic to supply the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eastern part of the Seversky salient. With the continuation of operations from the north of Kupyansk, where we have a foothold and command of the city from the northwest, we have the opportunity to attack from two directions. He would not count on rapid advances deep into the Kharkiv region. On the east coast there is an industrial zone, which they will try to protect. But in the last two weeks we have had a good rhythm.
CHANGE OF TACTICS
– 1-2 kilometers of progress is a lot.
– Yes, and the enemy is also trying to move forward in small jumps. Everything is full of mines. The terrain is subject to engineering processing where you can try to gain a foothold. Without using large forces, it is very troublesome to break through. There are position-on-position battles. The enemy in the Rabotinsky direction carried out attacks – there several dozen armored vehicles were thrown into a defensive ram at a certain depth. And now near Rabotino lies a huge amount of broken equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
– Have the tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine changed?
– The enemy stopped at a certain point the use of large masses of armored vehicles. He switched to the tactic of small assault groups supported by artillery. They are pressing our positions along the entire line of contact, looking for vulnerabilities, trying to advance. This leads to increased human losses, but reduces the loss of armored vehicles.
Combat work of crews of self-propelled howitzers “Msta-S” of the Southern Military District (SMD) in the zone of the special military operation. Photo: Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / TASS
– Such rates do not correspond to your tasks?
– Those who faced the enemy during the summer – no. The tasks were: to break through to Melitopol, to Berdyansk. But if you storm the trenches in small groups and try to occupy a village for a month, this contradicts the original plans of the operation.
– Do the curators push them forward?
– Of course, and they try. On the Vremevsky ledge they have a tactical success near Staromayorsk. And in the Orekhovsky direction – the next failures in the Rabotino area. They cannot leave Pyatikhatki for two months. Although his plan was to break through the first line of defense… 7-9 days after the start of the offensive.
SUCH A DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY
– Are the recent relative successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine partly due to Western artillery, which hits farther and more accurately?
– Thanks to Western artillery systems and the good work of those responsible for counter-battery and technical intelligence data, the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is dangerous. Yes, some of their artillery systems have a long range. It is necessary that ours use the “Lancets” more often, which ruin them…
– Does the tactic of a thousand cuts, to which the Armed Forces resort, give them the desired results?
– They are bogged down on the first line of defense, where we have oporniks, and where everything is strewn with mines. They try to go straight through the minefields.
– When we see that they are removing mines, do we attack immediately?
– We are starting to pour mines there with our remote mining systems. And we see that most of their losses are from our mines and artillery. And also from ATGMs and drones.
– kyiv lacks special equipment?
– They need more tanks with minesweepers, heavy mine clearing vehicles. But the West provides kyiv with very few of them. Every few vehicles destroyed after such an attack is a problem for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Well, what to replace them with? They try to slip through the minefields, lose some of the vehicles, jump to the first line of defense and come under fire from ATGMs and artillery. And then our artillery and aviation covers them. It is difficult to develop an offense in such conditions.
– Is that why they send small groups through minefields?
– Yes, they begin to fight for the forest plantations, and thus they advance a little. But now they have returned in the direction of Zaporizhia to the tactics of massive attacks by armored vehicles.
– Did it bring you any quick results?
– No. Move like that with infantry groups and drive with artillery, as under Staromayorsky, yes, you can.
– But it all depends on resources and time.
– Exactly! It takes time to break down a town in the state of its foundations. And we must also hold on to this village ourselves, as it was in Pyatikhatki. Let’s see how it will be in Vremevsky – there is still room for maneuver. The main thing for us is to continue grinding these brigades. The potential remains for 3-4 weeks of active action, and then it all starts to fizzle out.
WHAT WITH THE WESTERN SUPPLY
– Western weapons supplies to kyiv will not decrease?
– They are preparing for deliveries of combat aircraft, from the point of view of training engineering teams, airfields, pilots. This is a reality of 4-5 months. Deliveries of the promised are obvious – more than a hundred German “leopards”. The Abrams are coming in the fall…they would be relevant in the summer, but the Americans saved them on purpose so it wouldn’t work, like with the Leopards. The West will continue to supply Ukraine financially and with weapons for six months for sure.
