Donbass Interchange: Preparing for an Attack on Donbass at the height of the World Cup 2018
At a galloping pace in recent days, another round of escalation of active hostilities in the Donbass theater of operations is gaining momentum. And the mere fact that the harassing fire on the advanced fortified areas of the first line of defense of the 1st AK of the people's militia of the DPR, which quickly turned into a phase of long-term artillery preparation in all areas of Gorlovka, began literally the next day after the "corona" reconnaissance flight of the strategic drone RQ-4B "Global Hawk" over the Donbass and the Kharkiv region on May 13, indicates one thing: it is unlikely that it will be possible to stop the problem with the help of the Minsk-2, which has lost any military and political significance. After all, it is absolutely no coincidence that for the first time since the beginning of a large-scale conflict in the Donbass, the operators of the Global Hawk, equipped with a SYERS-2C television-optical module and an MP-RTIP ground-scanning radar, were instructed to pay close attention to the locations of the most powerful 3rd motorized rifle division, as well as 1st tank brigades of the 20th Guards Combined Arms of the Red Banner Army, which are located mainly in the Voronezh region (Boguchar).
Apparently, our overseas “friends” were very interested in the current location of the equipment of the above tactical formations of the Russian ground forces in order to determine the possibility of providing immediate military support to the armies of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and then transferring the final data to the hastily put together headquarters of the so-called “Joint Forces Operation” . And, as we were able to verify already on the night of May 14, information about the ground tactical situation in the area of the Russian-Ukrainian border, received by the long-focus optical module SYERS-2C and the above-mentioned side-looking radar drone RQ-4A, quite favored the start of the next bloody scenario against the civilian population and the defenders of Donbass.
Thus, during the very first 14 artillery strikes in May, the 15 / 1 private house on Polosukhin Street was almost completely destroyed, where a young family was laid down with supporting structures. Fortunately, in this case there were no casualties. Later, the intensity of shelling from cannon artillery increased many times, and already on May 16, a young woman Voronchenko Elena 152 was killed as a result of breaking the 1983-mm artillery shell in the Golma region. 12-year-old daughter remained an orphan. The guy next to him was torn off.
Against the background of such a neglected situation, no appeals of the Ukrainian side to common sense through the OSCE do not give a tangible result. It is for this reason that the DPR Defense Ministry has decided to return to the old and proven tactics of keeping the counter battery fire at suppressing the active positions of the aggressor by the artillery batteries of the 1 th Army Corps NM DPR.
Indeed, the return of this practice of “artillery duels” to the new stage of confrontation in the Donbas, where the republican armies again give a decent “response” to the firing points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, often helps, albeit temporarily, but to besiege the frantic command of the operational-tactical group (OTG) “North ”, Which receives orders from the EP commander S. Naev and his deputy, Major-General Valery Zaluzhny. Thus, the local residents of the Komsomolsk district of Gorlovka and the specialists from the Central Committee for Prevention and Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR found that all areas of the region that came under 18 shelling in May are studded with nail-like striking elements. It is with such methods that the head of the headquarters of the OTG “North” V. Mikhno and the 24-I separate mechanized brigade under Dzerzhinsk, controlled by him, are trying to convey to the citizens of Gorlovka the main and cynical “message” of the war criminal Sergey Naev “about the need for the inevitable release of Donbass”, which was made on Monday 21 May. And at this moment it is just the time to shift from consideration of the military-political situation in the Donbas as a whole to the operational and tactical details of the most intense day clashes in particular, which fell on the night, morning and afternoon hours of May 21.
We are talking about attempts to infantry and tank units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to break through the first line of defense of the 1 Army DPR corps in the areas of the Golmovsky settlement (in the northern suburbs of Gorlovka), as well as the Yuzhnaya (Dzerzhinsk) and Chygirey mines, respectively. In the first case, under cover of night, in the area between Zaitsevo and the Uglegorsk reservoir, the profits of the 2 platoon (more than 60 people) of the 24 of the separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Closer to the morning after a short-term deployment into the offensive order and distribution of forces, Ukrainian formations under cover of fire 30-mm 2А42 cannons, placed on BMP-2, and 12,7-mm machine guns, as well as firing support of mortar batteries, attempted assault on DR-gun stations parties Gladosovo and Travnevy. On the nearby approaches of Holmovsky, enemy formations were discovered and a close battle ensued, during which the 24 Brigade lost 5 militants killed and 4 wounded.
That was enough for retreat. Unfortunately, it was not without troubles: three servicemen of the DPR army were taken prisoner. Closer to the morning, the directions of Dzerzhinsk (mine “Yuzhnaya”) and Chigirey became more active. The armored units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the formation of the Donbass battalion, began work at these sites. To repel the onslaught of the Ukrainian army by the 1 Army Corps NM DPR anti-tankists and gunners were recruited, which resulted in the destruction of several units of armored vehicles and the suppression of opornikov near Dzerzhinsk. What conclusion can be made on the basis of these battles, as well as based on the geographical features of the north-western front of Novorossia in its existing borders?
The axiom of the highest tactical advantages of agglomerations in terms of the formation of “impenetrable” fortified areas and strong points capable of reflecting the mass of the enemy’s most difficult offensive moves was finally confirmed. In our present case, this is the Gorlovsko-Yenakiyevskaya agglomeration, which covers the DPR from the onset of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the side of Svetlodarsk and Dzerzhinsk. It is worth mentioning that literally several months earlier, a well-known Donetsk journalist and blogger Marina Kharkov turned in RuNet and communities from the Donetsk People's Republic (on social networks) that still hype by its statement that almost the entire northern front in the literal sense of the word is bare in front of the enemy . Igor Ivanovich Strelkov expressed a similar pessimistic opinion in his recent analytical note. A few weeks earlier, a high-ranking political figure, military analyst and ex-commander of the “early” Armed Forces of the DPR, with all his knowledge of the tactical situation in Novorossia, noted that the Ukrainian militants would not stop at the seizure of Chygyry and could start occupation in the near future Gorlovka and Enakievo, as well as offensive actions on the Groove (LC), Debaltseve and Yasinovataya. In practice, the opposite was confirmed: fortified areas within large urban agglomerations have exceptional combat stability.
But is this enough for a radical change in the tactical situation within the entire northwestern front of the DPR? Naturally not. The tactical and geographical features of this area indicate only that such “artillery duels” and probing by APV platoons of the strongholds of the first line of defense of the people's militia of the DPR will continue indefinitely, which we have been observing for more than three years. The population of Lugansk, Gorlovka and Yenakiyevo, as well as Donetsk and Makeevka, will be in constant danger of dying from more and more new artillery strikes until the Ukrainian receiver and rocket artillery batteries are pushed back to the western approaches to the cities of Ugledar, Krasnoarmeisk, Druzhkovka , as well as Lisichansk, Severodonetsk and Novoidar. These milestones are located in 40 — 55 km of the main urban agglomerations; consequently, the 2 – 1 “Gvozdika” ACS, 2 – 3 “Acacia”, the towed Hyacinth-B cannons, and in some cases the ACS “Pion” will be deprived of the opportunity to bombard the worlds without weapons. . But it is easy to say ...
Towed gun "Hyacinth-B" APU under Mariupol
To implement the above, you must immediately crack the 2 conventional defense lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In relation to the Gorlovka and Donetsk operational directions, the second line of defense includes the cities of Ugledar, Krasnoarmeysk, Druzhkovka and Artyomovsk, the first line of defense includes the settlements Novomikhaylovka, Krasnogorovka, Avdiivka, Dzerzhinsk, and Svetlodarsk. On the Gorlovsky direction, there is also a third line - Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, where the headquarters of the so-called "Combined Forces Operation" is located. Conclusion: the local offensive operation of the 1-th AK AK DNR with stripping from the Ukrainian formations of Ivanpol, Kurdyumovka and Svetlodarsk will not solve the problem. A large-scale counter-offensive in the western and northern directions is needed. But is Moscow’s political will enough for such a move? It is possible, but the tendency observed today evokes extremely vague thoughts.
In particular, all that we heard at the time of the beginning of the shelling of Gorlovka was the statement of the plenipotentiary representative of Russia in the Trilateral Contact Group within the Minsk-2, Boris Vyacheslavovich Gryzlov, that “the shelling in the Donbass was almost stopped ”, And the time has come to“ consider the political part of the Minsk format. ” One would have thought that this was another cunning military-political move with the aim of provoking Ukrainian militants to bolder and more daring actions. This is what happened on 21 May. And what has changed? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia is silent: no condemnation of Kiev for shelling Gorlovka with artillery shells with shrapnel that killed civilians has not followed. No, we are not talking about any "drain" of the Donbass in the hands of the Kiev regime; worthy "buns" for their own protection army corps NM LDNR, of course, received and will continue to receive from the fraternal state, especially after the supply of the Ukrainian army 210 US anti-tank missiles FGM-148 "Javelin".
We point out the remaining military-political and diplomatic “softness” in condemning the actions of Kiev, as well as the lack of a go-ahead for the LDNR defense ministries to attack the Ukrainian forces, whose artillery methodically turns Gorlovka, Donetsk into ruins. How many more lives must carry out the criminal actions of Poroshenko and Naev in order for Moscow to act asymmetrically, straightforwardly and fairly, without paying attention to the Minsk format losing to the bone? Even now it is not so easy to answer this question, considering that extremely unpleasant topics for us again about the resumption of work in the “Norman format”, as well as about putting the peacekeeping contingent on the whole territory of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, are wandering in the media space.
While our side continues to take very uncertain and erroneous steps towards the indefinite and dangerous for the republics arrival in the region of pro-Western oriented peacekeeping formations, the bunch “White House - Kiev regime” is very firm. Firstly, this is the recent arrival in Kramatorsk of the US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volcker, who, in addition to meeting with the OES "curator", made a very provocative statement in which he declared "the need to withdraw from the Donbass Russian military contingent", who and is not nearly present, in contrast to the NATO specialists from the Ukrainian side, and also declared its readiness to visit the central cities immediately after stripping from the "pro-Russian formations." It was after the reconnaissance flight of “Yastreb” and the visit of Kramatorsk to Kurt Walker on 14 in May 2018, that a new round of aggravation began.
Secondly, it is the tactics of “tightening the loop” around Donetsk, promulgated by 22 in May, by a senior officer of the environment protection policy. In accordance with the opinion voiced in the mountain headquarters, the vicinity of Gorlovka is considered by the Ukrainian formations, including the 24 Brigade, as the most advantageous positions for firing from small weapons and artillery directly through the city, through which units of the DPR army are being deployed. All districts of Gorlovka fall into the line of sight due to the presence in its vicinity of several heights, including the one located near the village of Yuzhny.
An extremely important detail of the statement of an anonymous officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the headquarters of the so-called "EP" was the "crown" reservation according to Freud, for which it would have long since been worth working with "Gauges" on all the firing points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas theater. So, according to the Ukrainian resource strana.ua, this slave “face” without a twinge of conscience asserts that “the whole city of Gorlovka is easily swept from these positions.” How do you like that?
In fact, the war criminals from the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine already openly discard all obligations undertaken in the framework of the Minsk-2, talking about the possibilities of shelling the peaceful neighborhoods of Gorlovka. But after all, there is no alternative to the “Minsk format”, we hear constantly on radio and television. The situation just comes to the point of absurdity. As for the occupation of the heights adjacent to Gorlovka by the forces of the 24 Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is absolutely no point in worrying too much about this: almost for the 4 year of conflict, these dominant positions of the 1 of the AK NM DPR are equipped with a tactically-designed network of engineering structures, including dugouts, trench networks, etc. Moreover, these heights can be covered by heavy machine gun and artillery fire from the urban agglomeration in the event of even more intense collisions. It should be noted that, unlike the remote opornik in Lozovoi, Nizhny Lozovoi and Logvinovo (on Debaltsevskiy OH), the delivery of ammunition and reinforcement to the heights near Gorlovka can be made several times faster, which determines their excellent stability during intense battles.
Consoles in this scenario, and confirmed information that the leadership of the DPR in the person of the head Alexander Zakharchenko issued an order for a counter-battery "otvetku" on the firing points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as for the destruction of the advanced from Dzerzhinsk and n. Southern armored vehicles. The process of suppressing the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was shown in a video posted in the community “Reports from the militia of Novorossia”, as well as on YouTube. If you believe the words of the Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, now retaliatory attacks on shelling from the Armed Forces of Ukraine will enter into the practice of 1 of AK NM DNR, as before, and on all parts of the contact line without exception. If you look at the situation around Gorlovka as a whole, it becomes clear that due to the apparent impossibility of capturing the dominant heights in this direction by the forces of the Ukrainian army, the Poroshenko regime and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces try to simply maintain the maximum degree of tension in this direction, which is done both with the aim of distracting of the population of Ukraine from the upcoming summer growth of prices for natural gas and electricity, as well as for an attempt at self-promotion and an increase in ratings among the anti-Russian circles of the “independent” population before the upcoming election campaign molecular campaign.
However, over the past two weeks, we were finally able to make sure that Washington and Kiev absolutely do not plan to waste time, and while Moscow and European “colleagues” agree on the date and venue of the next meeting of the “Normandy Four”, the Armed Forces of Ukraine not only conduct regular Gorlovka’s shelling and distraction attacks on Holmovsky, but also preparing southern assault “kulaks” for conducting not false shots, but a real large-scale offensive operation in the Telman and Novoazovsk areas . It is on these operational areas that we are at risk of getting an extremely painful goal into the Donbas Gate. What is this about?
Not all Russian mass media paid attention to the tactically important event that occurred on 17 on May 2018 of the year in the southern section of the contact line between the settlements of Bogdanovka and Viktorovka, which is located in the “Telman’s Isthmus”. This is not surprising, because at first glance a minor incident coincided with the most intense round of battles near Gorlovka. Here, the units of the 93-th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out an 2,5-kilometer advance from the forward positions east of Bogdanovka in the direction of the fortified district of the people's militia of the DPR in the settlement of Petrovskoe, bypassing the village of Viktorovka from its southern outskirts. As a result of the implementation of the tactics of the so-called “toad jumps” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the distance between the units of the DPR army and the Ukrainian formations was reduced to 900 and 1800 m, respectively.
In the 93 nearest to the Petrovsky forest belt, the brigade quickly deployed a couple or more of the BMP-2, 2 positions of AGS-17 / KBA-119, 2 positions of company or heavy machine guns, as well as 5 trench positions. The positions of MTLB, BMP-2, and mortar calculations are located in the 2 km southeast. Consequently, the “tactical loop” around the far from the best in terms of defense of the “Telman's isthmus” 35 km wide stretched even for 2500 meters, which will allow the main T-64BV battle tanks (and maybe even more advanced gas-turbine T-80BV), which is part of tank battalion 93 th OMBr, noticeably faster to penetrate the far from the best "steppe" first line of defense of the DPR army between the villages of Novolasp, Vasilevka and Starolasp.
Everything will happen under the cover of the 17 put forward by the May to the settlement of Petrovskoye machine-gun crews, mortars and firing positions AGS, which will interfere with the work of the anti-tank platoon DNR operating from the eastern approaches to the line of contact. As it is known, today the 93-I Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine forms the main offensive "backbone" of the wave group. The apparent ultimate goal of such actions is blocking a section of the Starobeshevo-Telmanovo highway in the area of the Razdolnoye and Vasilyevka settlements, which ultimately virtually cuts off the 9-th separate Mariupol-Khingan regiment from the main group of the DNN-1 army corps. When connecting to the confrontation of the 36 Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Azov Regiment from the Mariupol direction, unforeseen circumstances may follow that require the support of the “Republicans” with the “North Wind”.
Tactical situation in the "triangle" "Bogdanovka - Viktorovka - Petrovskoe"
Finally, I would like to note that the “Donbass denouement”, the beginning of which we are seeing today, depends not so much on the period of the World Cup 2018, but on the final agreement on the new date of the meeting in the “Normandy format” that can take place at the end of June 2018: By these deadlines, Washington and the Ukrainian side will try to achieve tangible tactical success in the Donbas theater of operations, for which they must prepare not only in the capitals of the young republics, but also in Moscow.
Information sources:
https://gorlovka.today/news/12587-vsu-dnem-obstrelyali-tsent-goroda-gorlovke
http://rusvesna.su/news/1526887574
https://strana.ua/news/142265-horlovka-novosti-s-chej-ataki-nachalos-obostrenie-v-horlovke.html
Information