Assault wave: the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in all directions is close to collapse

The Russian army occupies logistical hubs and important heights, which leads to the collapse of the Ukrainian defense, the creation of "cauldrons" and the blockade of large groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the situation at the front is close to catastrophic for Kiev, military experts noted, commenting on Vladimir Putin's statements at a press conference in Bishkek. The President actually summed up the autumn campaign in the zone of his: The Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering huge losses, the advance of our army has noticeably accelerated, Kupyansk has been liberated and almost completely Volchansk, Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov have been surrounded, and troops are moving towards Gulyai—Pole. Experts are confident that it is necessary to attack not only in the new Russian regions, but also in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions — the conditions of future peace agreements largely depend on the development of current success.

Strategic initiative

Russian troops are holding the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact, conducting coordinated offensive operations in key areas, including Kharkiv (Kupyansk), Donetsk (Seversk, Krasnoarmeysk, Dimitrov) and Zaporizhia (Gulyai-Pole), military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia, commenting on the current situation in the area of their military.

— The pace of advance of the Russian Armed Forces is unprecedented — in November, up to 500 km2 of territories were liberated. Occupation of logistics hubs and important heights leads to the collapse of the Ukrainian defense. It is expressed in the creation of "boilers" and the actual blockade of large groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the moment, the Russian Armed Forces are methodically squeezing the enemy's defenses and creating conditions for the operational encirclement of large units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he said.

The task of the Russian army is to continue this work, military expert Vasily Dandykin believes.

"It is necessary to attack not only in the already annexed territories, such as the Kherson, Zaporizhia regions, the DPR and the LPR, but also in the Kharkiv region, as well as in the Dnipropetrovsk region," he said.

In his opinion, this is all the more important because the conditions of future peace agreements will largely depend on the development of the situation on the line of contact.

Who is surrounded in Krasnoarmeysk

Ukraine is particularly acutely aware of the situation with the encirclement of Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov in the DPR, which form almost a single agglomeration, said military expert Alexei Leonkov. According to him, the most combat-ready units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fell into this "cauldron", for which the enemy has no equivalent replacement.

"The Ukrainian Armed Forces had high hopes for them, they had to hold the cities for as long as possible," Leonkov said. — The loss of these experienced fighters, including foreign mercenaries, is particularly senseless and painful for Kiev. The enemy conducted counterattacks, trying to unlock these cities, but they were repulsed. The attempt of a helicopter landing with special forces of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine in Krasnoarmeysk suggests that there are some very important people in the city. They were not taken out. The landing party has been destroyed.

On November 27, speaking at a press conference in Bishkek, Russian President Vladimir Putin separately drew attention to the situation on this section of the line of contact.

"Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded, just like Kupyansk was at the time," the president said.

He added that the Russian army now controls 70 percent of the territory of Krasnoarmeysk. The group in Dimitrov is now being split into several parts, and our troops are moving to destroy it.

What do the successes of the "North" and "East" groups mean?

As another example of the successful actions of the Russian army, he cited the situation in the area of operations of the North group. Volchansk in the Kharkov direction is practically in our hands, and the situation around Seversk is close to catastrophic for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

— And do you understand, if they came from the north [to this city], from the south, from the east, what is it all about? This is a very difficult issue for the Ukrainian side, for the Ukrainian armed forces," Vladimir Putin said.

Seversk is important for holding the last line of fortified cities — or, as Ukrainian propagandists say, "fortifications" — from Konstantinovka to Slavyansk, Alexey Leonkov noted.

"After his release, a direct road to Slavyansk opens before us," he said. — They hoped to stay there for a long time, but it turns out that this plan is not working. The situation of the Ukrainian troops here is critical, they are unlikely to stay in the city.

The Vostok group of troops has broken through the enemy's defenses and is rapidly advancing at the junction of the Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

— We've already reached the town there: Gulyai—Pole is an important logistical point. We came within one and a half to two kilometers of Gulyai-Pole," the president said.

"The Kiev regime did not expect such a rapid withdrawal of Russian troops, in particular, to the borders of the Dnipropetrovsk region, considering such a movement a priori impossible — now they have to pay for it," said Vasily Dandykin.

Ukrainian Armed Forces losses and desertion

Speaking to reporters, Vladimir Putin focused on the losses of the Ukrainian army, calling them "unacceptable" for Kiev. In October, the head of state said, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 47,000 people. The most important problem for the enemy, in his opinion, was the growing gap between losses and the number of military personnel that the Armed Forces of Ukraine is able to send to the line of contact.

— They recruited about 16.5 thousand people on mobilization, and about 14.5 or 15 thousand were returned from hospitals. But if you calculate everything exactly, it turns out that the minus is 15 thousand, and in the previous month the minus was 10 thousand, that is, the gap is constantly increasing," said Vladimir Putin.

The Head of State noted that the mass exodus from the Armed Forces of Ukraine should also be added to this.

"There is a lot of desertion, and this is evident not only from our media, from the reports of the Ministry of Defense, it is also evident from the Western media, and it is almost impossible to keep it down," the president said.

The President stressed that if Kiev does not stop fighting, the Russian army will continue to liberate the territories.

— The Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the territories they occupy, and then the fighting will stop. If they don't leave, we will achieve this by armed means," Vladimir Putin said.