Daily Report from the Ukraine Field for 2022-05-20
Daily Report from the Ukraine Field for 2022-05-20
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A quick SitRep for the America Front…
“The sad truth is that the Russians could no more lose a war with Ukraine, than the United States could lose a war with Mexico” - Col Douglas Macgregor
Slavyangrad - Gleb Bazov - https://t.me/Slavyangrad
The Russian-Allied Offensive from Popasnaya, SitRep as of May 19, 2022
1—Within a mere ten days after the fall of Popasnay—the most important and most fortified stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass—the Allied forces have breached the Ukrainian defences in multiple directions along four separate vectors fanning out of Popasnaya to the north, northwest, west, and south. The Ukrainian front is crumbling.
2—After the mop-up of Popasnaya, units of PMC Wagner continued the offensive in the northwestern direction, along the railway lines toward the settlement Druzhba and onward to Soledar. The forward advance of the Wagner units pinned and blockaded the Ukrainian Army and territorial defence troops in Tripolye and opened the path for the Russian elite VDV (paratrooper) units to progress to Vladimirovka.
3—Where it took several days to move beyond Druzhba, the settlements of Tripolye and Vladimirovka fell in rapid succession on May 19, 2022. First success came from the VDV units that bypassed Tripolye and secured Vladimirovka by the morning of May 19. The Wagner troops took control of Tripolye by the evening on the same day. Finally, advance units of the Allied offensive are reported to have taken Novaya Kamenka, putting them essentially on the outskirts of Soledar.
4—A key section of the Soledar-Lisichansk lifeline supplying the Ukrainian troops in the northeastern corner of the forming Donbass cauldron is now under barrage fire control of the Allied troops. The Ukrainian military grouping in the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk urban agglomeration is in operational encirclement. To secure the rapid success of the offensive, the Allied troops have to take control over reinforced position on the strategic heights neighbouring Vladimirovka and Tripolye to the north. After this objective is achieved, the only supply line remaining to the trapped Ukrainian troops will run along the Lisichansk-Seversk path—a route that is already under artillery fire control by the Russian forces from the north bank of the Seversky Donets river that weaves through the area.
5—The second direction of the offensive being conducted by the Wagner units is to the south, in the direction of Troitskoye, and, from there, to the Svetlodarsk arc and the city of Svetlodarsk itself. As of the end of May 19, 2022, Troitskoye fell to the advancing Allied forces. This objective could not be achieved by the Donbass armies in the Battle for Debaltsevo in 2015, which left the Ukrainian army in control of the key defensive Svetlodarsk arc wedged between the DNR stronghold of Gorlovka and the LNR administrative border with its sister Republic. Just like the Ukrainian salient in Debaltsevo (eliminated as a result of the Donbass armies victory in the Battle of Debaltsevo), the Ukrainian presence Svetlodarsk arc, in the years that followed, created a clear and present danger of Ukrainian forces splitting the communication lines between the Republics in a future offensive.
6—The offensive to the north of Popasnaya, in the direction of Kamyshevakha and Vrubovka, is an area of responsibility that was assigned to regular Russian units. The intention here is to secure Vrubovka with a view to securing an additional zone of control over the Lisichansk-Soledar Ukrainian supply line, as well as to close the lid on the mini-cauldron containing the Ukrainian stronghold in the area of Zolotoye-Gorskoye. The early reports of Vrubovka having been taken were premature. However, by the end of May 19, 2022, Kamyshevakha had been taken into a semi-circle by the Russian units, with heavy fighting ongoing in its southern part. The Allied units that bypassed Kamyshevakha from the west took co0ntrol of the small village of Viktorovka and the Kamyshevakha railroad station, and then proceeded to Vrubovka. The mop-up operations in Vrubovka are now underway.
7—To the east and northeast of the Zolotoye-Gorskoye stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the units of the LNR People’s Militia advanced along two lines of the offensive, seeking to take control of and Orekhovo and Toshkovka. While Orekhovo was reported to have been taken some days ago, the battle for Toshkovka is currently still ongoing, despite early reports of the fall of the Ukrainian defences in the settlement. Success in this sector will cut off the direct lines of retreat to Lisichansk for the Ukrainian grouping in the Zolotoye-Gorskoye area. The Ukrainian units could still break out of the forming mini-cauldron by using rural and bypass roads and then moving through the fields to Lisichansk, but any such retreat would simply bring them to yet another trap.
8—The Allied forces are grinding out the last remaining reserves available to the Ukrainian army in the area: the territorial defence reinforcements brought in from Western Ukraine and the remnants of the 24th Ukrainian brigade, which was crushed and retreated from Popasnaya with significant losses. As of the end of May 19, 2022, the Allied forces had established artillery fire control over the Soledar-Lisichansk supply line and are close to cutting off the communications between Zolotoye-Gorskoye and Lisichansk. The only direction of the offensive where success has been limited is the attack to the west on Pilipchatino—along the main route from Popasnaya to Artyomovsk (Bakhmut)—the reports of early success in which were premature.
9—Altogether, between 5,000 and 8,000 Ukrainian troops may be trapped in the Zolotoye-Gorskoye mini-cauldron once it is close shut. The estimates of the total Ukrainian military presence in the Severodonetsk-Popasnaya corner of the Donbass operational cauldron range between 15,000 and 20,000, according to various reports and estimates.
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Slavyangrad - Gleb Bazov - https://t.me/Slavyangrad
This section posted by Azmilitary1 - https://t.me/azmilitary11
‼️ 🇷🇺 The Russian army began to use the tactics of small boilers in the Donbass
According to Ukrainian analysts from the Zrada community, Russian troops, due to the inability to close the common cauldron over the entire AFU grouping in the Donbas, have changed tactics and are focused on closing small cauldrons.:
🍵 Severodonetsk - grouping of the APU about 2000;
🍵 Gorskoe + Golden - up to 3000;
🍵 Lisichansk - up to 10 thousand! fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
🍵 Svitlodarsk - from 2000;
🍵 Avdiivka + Vasilevka - only 4000.
It is noted that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine understands the severity of the situation and is trying to strengthen the grouping by the defense units, but the situation is aggravated by a sharp drop in the moral and psychological state of the military. Of course, the key reason is the surrender of Azovstal.
