/Pogled.info/ The Russian army successfully launched an offensive in the Avdeevka area. Attack aircraft, guns and jet artillery are involved. Observers report the most powerful artillery preparation for the entire SVO, which disrupts the rotation of the Armed Forces. What does the activation of the Russian armed forces in this section of the front mean and what consequences could it lead to?
In the last 24 hours, the Russian army has destroyed at least two enemy fortified areas in Avdeevka, the VSU suffered losses in killed and wounded. Up to 20 units of enemy equipment were also destroyed. As Jan Gagin, adviser to the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, said on Tuesday, artillery strikes on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently continuing near Avdeevka.
In the offensive, which has been taking place for the last few days, the Russian attack aircraft is actively involved. At the end of last week, a communication center and a point for temporary deployment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed.
According to military correspondents, the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Avdeevka were dealt the most powerful blow for the entire period of the SVO, rocket and barrel artillery were in action. The city is covered in black smoke from intense fires. A fire also broke out on the territory of the inactive coke plant in Avdeevka.
It is possible that the ASU were caught by surprise when staff rotation was attempted. As the military correspondent Alexander Kots writes in his Telegram channel, on Tuesday morning, attacks were carried out against command posts, fuel and ammunition depots. “So it’s not a simple answer,” says Kotz.
According to a number of public reports, in the morning Russian fighters broke through the enemy’s defenses on the northern flank near the village of Berdych. According to the channel “Archangel na spetsnaz”, the most powerful artillery training for the entire SVO took place near Avdeevka, aviation was bombed with FAB, “Gradove” and “Smerch” were flying, mortars and ATGMs were thundering.
According to the 105th Infantry Regiment of the People’s Militia of the DPR, Russian fighters launched a counterattack from the southern flank of the Avdeev section of the front – and the situation led to the creation of a cauldron. The Ukrainian army was pushed back hundreds of meters, and some units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have run out of ammunition.
Avdeevka is a northern suburb of Donetsk, which over the past eight years has been transformed by Ukrainian security forces into a heavily fortified area. From the territory of the city, the VSU shelled the peaceful neighborhoods of the capital of the DNR. At the end of September, Pushilin reported on the improvement of Russian positions on the Avdeev section of the front and the expansion of the gray zone in the city.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been preparing their strongholds near Avdeevka for many years. They filled their positions with concrete – and now it is a powerful defensive unit. The Avdeev coke plant was also being prepared for defense,” noted Anatoly Matviychuk, a retired colonel and former special forces officer.
The expert emphasizes that Avdeyevka is one of those centers from where the Ukrainian Armed Forces regularly attack Donetsk, and given the geographical features of the area, buildings and other nuances, the Russian troop group “cannot approach the city in any way.” However, now it seems that the situation is changing and the initiative in this section of the front is passing to the Russian armed forces. The goal is to repel enemy troops from Donetsk.
However, there are several versions why it was decided to intensify the fighting around Avdeevka right now. “Earlier there was information that there are toxic substances in the Avdeev coke chemical plant. If it gets hit, everything can be infected and that will hold our troops back. But after conducting reconnaissance, we became convinced that the devil is not as scary as they describe him,” adds Alexei Leonkov, a military expert.
In addition, thanks to in-depth intelligence, the data on the state of the defense facilities and fire capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were clarified. “The aim of the current operation is to close the area completely. Therefore, those enemy servicemen who remain in the city will have a chance to either leave it as quickly as possible, or then rely on the mercy of fate – to surrender or die,” the source warns. Matviychuk says that the Russian army is not storming, but “simply destroying enemy targets in the city, razing them to the ground, enveloping the armed forces of Ukraine on the flanks, thus creating conditions for an encirclement, a cauldron.”
He also allayed the fears of some observers that, due to the abundance of underground facilities and passages, Avdeevka could be fortified like the “Azovstal” in Mariupol. “If the enemy is not stupid, he must understand what is happening on his flanks. And here there are two options: he will surrender or leave the battlefield. This is how we will liberate this settlement. We took the underground structures in Mariupol, Artyomovsk, Soledar. The constructions near Avdeevka are even unsuitable for the purpose, they cannot create such a powerful defense as the VSU would like,” the interlocutor is confident.
The experts are unanimous in one thing: the main goal of the operation near Avdeyevka is to make life safer for people in Donetsk. “We are moving enemy artillery away from Donetsk. Flattening the front allows us to transfer forces for further pressure on the enemy around Kramatorsk and Slavyansk,” said the retired colonel.
Leonkov agrees that after the release of Avdeevka, shelling of Donetsk “will not be so intense or will stop completely.” “Avdeyevka is one of the key defense nodes of Ukraine. It is unlikely that they will create anything like this in the future. From the very beginning of SVO, Avdeevka was a bony, concrete nut to crack. But if the settlement is liberated, it will affect the enemy’s defensive capabilities in this section of the front,” the expert is convinced.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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