A woman walks past a damaged building in the Russian-held city of Tokmak in January in a photo released by Russian state news media. Photo credit: Alexander Galperin/Sputnik, via Associated Press
As Ukrainian forces continue to push forward to try to secure the piece of land they have recaptured in the south, a strategic target is looming: the city of Tokmak, a road and rail hub whose recapture could ultimately help Kiev penetrate deep enough into Russia. controlled area to split Moscow’s forces and supply lines.
Ukraine’s military said on Monday that its forces broke through Russia’s first line of defenses in the region and recaptured Robotyne, a village linked by a highway to Tokmak – 15 miles to the south – although the two are separated by even more strata are robust Russian defenses.
Ukraine launched its long-awaited counter-offensive in June, and its successes have been gradually measured. A sign of the daunting task is that it took months of bitter fighting to take Robotyne, and Ukrainian officials say in recent days they are still securing positions in the village as they clear the area and attempt to advance further south.
“We have had successes and are consolidating the positions we have achieved,” Andriy Kovalev, a spokesman for the military general staff, said Tuesday, adding that Ukrainian troops were advancing towards Verbowe, a village about five miles south-east of Robotyne. His claim could not be independently verified.
Controlling Robotyne and its surroundings could allow Ukraine to use it as a base to prepare and conduct attacks on targets further south. Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military in the southern Zaporizhia region, said this week that consolidating their position in Robotyne would mean Ukrainian forces could bring more troops to the area, providing greater maneuvering opportunities.
Damage in Robotyne, Ukraine, last week. Source: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Portal
Tokmak is an important target for the Ukrainian army as it represents the intersection point for five main roads in the Zaporizhzhia region, including two that connect the cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk near the Sea of Azov. Reaching the Sea of Azov would allow Ukraine to drive a wedge in the so-called land bridge between Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, a link crucial to Moscow’s supply routes.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said in a speech to French diplomats in Paris on Tuesday that after securing the flanks of Robotyne, “we are paving the way to Tokmak and ultimately to Melitopol and the border with Crimea.”
But Mr. Shtupun, the army spokesman, conceded that the push against Tokmak would not be easy. “I think the Russians will not leave this settlement so easily and the Ukrainian forces will have to fight for it,” he said.
Satellite images show that to reach Tokmak, Ukrainian forces would have to break through two more formidable Russian defense lines made up of trenches, dense minefields, earthworks and anti-tank barriers – part of an extensive defense network that military analysts say is the largest in Europe since then Second World War.
Securing Tokmak, a town with a pre-war population of around 30,000, also presents its own challenges. Once the Ukrainian troops got through the tank traps surrounding the city, they would have to fight their way through tall buildings and narrow side streets in a melee that would most likely be fatal for both sides.
Kiev’s troops are still far from Tokmak, but Ukrainian officials claim the recent advances appear to have raised concerns among Russian occupation authorities there. On Tuesday, Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian exiled mayor of Melitopol, said that some Russian officials were leaving Tokmak as fighting neared, according to local residents.
Ukrainians “are forcing the occupiers to leave Tokmak,” Mr. Fedorov wrote in a post on news app Telegram. The claim could not be independently verified.
show more