AFU Break Southern Front Into Parts And Outflank Russian Forces

Russian groups are encircled in several areas.

There is a game of who will burn more resources. The AFU are destroying the enemy in the south, while the occupiers have launched a large-scale offensive in the Luhansk region. The Russians are burning reserves around Bakhmut so that their front does not fail, reports espreso.tv.

Luhansk region

The Russians are trying to divert the main AFU reserves from the offensive in the south and force them to transfer to the defense of the Luhansk region. Therefore, during the week they attacked the defense forces in many places. The main attacks were concentrated to the west of Svatove, near the village of Novoselovske, where the occupiers managed to cross the railway line and approach the Kupyansk-Kreminna highway.

In addition, the enemy continued to advance along almost the entire section of the front between Svatove and Kreminna, concentrating especially on advancing in the area of Nevske, Chervonopopovka, Yampolivka, as well as on driving the Ukrainian military out of the forests south of Kreminna. For several months now, the Russians have been slowly pushing the AFU southward in order to force them to the Siversk Donets, forcing them to retreat about 20 kilometers from the front, thus opening up the possibility of an offensive on Lyman and Siversk. But these are only their intentions. For now, the Ukrainian defenders in Belohorivka have been holding off the enemy for more than a year.

Battle for Bakhmut

Last week, it appeared that the AFU would de-occupy two key villages near Bakhmut: Kleshchiivka in the south and Berkhovka in the north, as fighting continued around these villages. However, the Russians have brought in new reserves, as how long the Russians can stay in Bakhmut depends on these villages.

The battles for Berkhovka were fought for a whole week in counter-offensives. The occupiers repeatedly drove the AFU out of the village, and our military repeatedly returned to these positions and continued the offensive. At the same time, the Ukrainian offensive on the northern outskirts of Soledar, where the AFU advanced several kilometers during the week, was a very unpleasant blow for the enemy. If this success continues, the occupiers' defense of Bakhmut may collapse sooner than expected.

After occupying all the key heights near Kleshchiivka, the Ukrainian forces continued their offensive to the south of the village, as well as to the neighboring villages of Andriivka, Kurdyumivka and Ozaryanivka. In this way, the AFU extended the front line of the fighting and forced the Russians to bring in even more resources. The main task is to cut the road from Bakhmut to Horlivka. This will make it possible to take the city in a semi-encirclement and force the occupiers to leave the western part of Bakhmut and move to the left bank of the Bakhmutka.

In the city itself, street fighting continued for a second week.

Southern front

The AFU have approached the main Russian defense line in several places and continue to dismantle it into parts in the direction of Orekhivka, the Zaporizhzhia region. The key sectors of the fighting were Zherebyanka in the direction of Vasylivka and Rabotino, Verbove in the direction of Tokmak, and Novopokrovka in the direction of Polohi. At the same time, the next successes can be expected in the area of the villages of Nesteryanka - Kopan, where the AFU maneuvered and successfully reached the flanks of the occupants.

In general, the losses of the occupants in the direction of Orekhove-Tokmak are so heavy that they had to use here their last reserve in the south of Ukraine - the 35th Army, which is stationed south of Verbove. It is good for the AFU, because this area is well shelled by artillery.

In the area of Staromlynivka, the AFU have captured a key peak near Staromayorske. From this side they are methodically destroying the residents of this village. From the other side they are trying to break through to the south between Staromayorske and Priyutne. The occupiers in Priyutne do not feel comfortable because they are almost half surrounded from three sides. Therefore, it is expected that they will soon withdraw from this village or stay there forever.

The situation is similar near Novodonetsk, where the AFU have penetrated the enemy's right flank and is trying to encircle the occupiers.

Just to the south, however, in the Kermenchik area, the Russians have concentrated a significant number of reserves with which to both defend themselves and attempt a counteroffensive.

In Berdyansk, a Storm Shadow missile strike on the 58th Army headquarters killed Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov.

Attacks on the Crimean Bridge

The situation with the de-occupation of southern Ukraine directly depends on when the Crimean Bridge will finally be destroyed. So far, the AFU do not have the means to destroy it, because the Storm Shadow missiles cannot reach this target. And then, the other day, the Russian Armed Forces announced that they had shot down a Ukrainian S-200 missile in Crimea. This is a missile from a Soviet stationary SAM system designed to destroy airborne targets. Ukraine has a large arsenal of S-200 missiles, but has not had the opportunity to use them. However, the AFU appear to have succeeded in converting these missiles to hit ground targets with a range of 300 and possibly more kilometers. The Russians claim to have shot down an S-200 near Kerch. If this is true, we can soon expect a whole artillery barrage that will stop only when the bridge falls.