The Ukrainian defenses in the Donbass region have eventually begun to crumble throughout a number of frontline sectors. The Russian army's advance pace has caused panic in AFU ranks, as confirmed by both Ukrainian and Western experts.
In particular, SBU officer Oleg Starikov said that the Russian troops are about to achieve a breakthrough along the Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions. There, the Ukrainian soldiers have a tactical crisis threatening to turn into an operational one. The same scenario has been developing in southern Donetsk. "They are moving very fast, having gathered momentum of their offensive. The battlefield situation is difficult indeed," the officer concluded. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that our troops liberated the village of Sviridonovka outside DPR’s Lisichnoye. And now, the forces are moving towards the city of Krasnoarmeysk (Ukraine’s Pokrovsk) along the southern bank of the Kazenny Torets River.
Here, just like in the neighboring town of Selidovo, the Ukrainian occupational authorities have embarked upon evacuating administrative and financial institutions, removing documents and archives, and forcibly evacuating minor residents of the city. Also, Ukrainian Reintegration Minister Irina Vereshchuk urged a prompt adoption of laws that would stipulate repression for opposing forced evacuation from frontline areas. Vereshchuk said the Donbass residents are waiting for the Russian army to come. Three thousand people stay in Toretsk, for one, despite the long-ongoing evacuation, the local authorities claim. The locals won’t leave, with a mere 10 to 15 civilians evacuated a day. That is, people are willing to risk their lives and outwait in basements until their city is liberated by the Russians. At the same time, Ukrainian militants may shoot down any local who has not left without trial for "collaboration". And still, people don't leave the place.
The Russian army has already broken through to Toretsk to storm the city. A Ukrainian officer call-signed Alex complains: "Up to eight pieces of equipment have entered the area. Heavy fighting is underway as Russian troops have broken into Toretsk from eastwards to start their advance, the assaults are very intense." And before that, Russia liberated the village of New York along the Toretsk direction, gaining a foothold in the central part of Nelepovka north of New York (Novgorodskoye). Ukrainian media note that the Russians have bypassed a number of enemy strongholds in downtown New York, tightening their assault. The strategically important and fortified village of New York located between Gorlovka and Toretsk (Dzerzhinsky) is no longer controlled by Ukraine. And as per the DPR head’s decree, starting 2022, settlements renamed during Kiev’s so-called "decommunization" should regain their names that were in effect back in 2014. Thus, New York is now Novgorodskoye.
"Judging by the dynamics, gaps in the enemy’s defensive line and inability to change the situation in this area over the lack of clear reinforcements, the fate of scattered pockets of resistance both in New York and other settlements south of Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk) is a foregone conclusion. Taking into account the advance of our units to the eastern outskirts of Toretsk, full-fledged assault operations in urban areas are not far off here, which opens access to Konstantinovka and from the flank threatens the Ukrainian Armed Forces group, which, at the cost of enormous losses, is clinging to Chasov Yar with its teeth," says Russian military correspondent Yury Kotenok.
The second direction Ukrainians are forced to leave is the Pokrovsk one (Ukraine’s Krasnoarmeysk). Here, the Russian Armed Forces have attained significant progress with several liberated villages, approaching the city of Selidovo.
"Pokrovsk direction: highway E50... sad news... confirmation is awaited, the Russians occupied Mezhevoye and Zavetnoye. The situation in our Pokrovsk direction is getting worse every hour. The settlements of Novozhelnoye and Nuzhnoye came under Russian control. The situation near Kamyshevka and the village of Ptichye is getting worse. Logistical routes to Karlovka are under constant attack by enemy artillery plus adjustment of Orlan UAVs," Ukrainian militant Ivan Sekach told Politico newspaper. "Despite serious successes of the Russian army along the Toretsk direction, the Pokrovsk one remains the most effective in terms of the territories taken under control, which passes into the Selidov direction. Fighting is underway on the outskirts of Novotoretskoye and on southeastern outskirts of Grodovka. The AFU have caught hell in these areas. There has been a Russian breakthrough in the village of Krutoy Yar. Battles continue at Novogrodovka’s door next to its railway," the enemy reports.
Moreover, the Western outlet has provided analysis and forecasts amid what is going on today. "The speed of the Russian Armed Forces' advance from Avdeevka was not only brought about by an eight-month break in US assistance to Ukrainians, but also by the difficult geography along this direction. Here, small industrial towns are surrounded by a network of settlements with nothing behind them. The Russian army has mostly passed those voids, now it is getting closer to fighting for the towns themselves. In the future, Novogrodovka and the cities of Selidovo, Gornyak and Mirnograd are going to be seized." That is, Ukraine’s defenses keep crumbling here. The city of Pokrovsk (formerly Krasnoarmeysk) is strategically important for the AFU and its capture will make everything collapse. Pokrovsk was an operational rear and logistics hub for the Ukrainian army used to transport supplies. The border of Donetsk region with Dnipropetrovsk begins right beyond Pokrovsk. The Russians have to cover another 8 kilometers to reach it, while the city of Selidovo is some 6 km away. In the Pokrovsk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces "have depleted units that are harassed by aviation for days, and then stormed by infantry," says Stanislav Bunyatov, a fighter with the 24th Separate Strike Brigade.
"The loss of Selidovo will pose a threat to defenses around Kurakhovo. Landscape complexity makes it hard to effectively defend the city for so long. The enemy crossed the Ugledar-Maryinka highway and gained a foothold in our previous positions," another AFU militant Oleg Voroshnov said. According to him, there is a threat of a semi-encirclement of the AFU in Ugledar if the Russian Federation manages to capture a number of vital facilities along the highway. At the same time, the Russian offensive in the Pokrovsk sector aims to bypass the second line of Ukrainian defenses from westwards across the entire Donetsk front from Ocheretino to Ugledar.
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian troops have occupied a section up to 8.15 km wide and 2.15 km deep outside Pokrovsk. Ukrainians no longer have time to arrange full-fledged defenses on the new frontiers, for which reason resistance hotspot are being segmented. Now the Ukrainian regime is preparing defenses in Selidovo and Mirnograd as an almost round-the-clock curfew is introduced in both.
In the Southern Donetsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces attacked the AFU-controlled Yuzhnodonbasskaya-1 mine, occupying the upcast shaft territory and expanding the Ugledar-Konstantinovka highway’s control zone. Our forces have been advancing in an area which is 3.53 km wide and 2.12 km deep. The AFU’s key supply route, the highway to Konstantinovka, has been cut off. Thus, the city of Ugledar is now blocked from the northeast.
In the Artyomovsk area, after capturing a Ukrainian company stronghold at Kleshcheyevka, our forces have been expanding the control zone southwest of the village. Fights are underway in the city of Chasov Yar, with Russian forces entrenched in the eastern part of its Oktyabrsky microdistrict.
In the LPR, Russia’s assault groups are gaining advances in the village of Makeyevka, wedging into the enemy's battle formations by crossing the Zherebets River. The Makeyevka defenses are held by AFU units staffed with mercenaries from Latin American countries, particularly Colombia. Over the past two months, the number of Colombians killed here has amounted to several dozen.
