by Lorenzo Cremonesi
Among the Ukrainian defenders who praise the superiority of their weapons: It would take little to retake the lost territories. The approximately 480 kilometers of the eastern front remain difficult to protect
BOGOYAULINKA (Donbass) – The craters from the bombs dropped by the planes are almost perfectly round and the devastation spread evenly on the houses all around. Enclosure walls demolished, fences torn open, in the unroofed rooms there is the chaos of objects thrown meters, furniture and clothes tangled with mattresses and blankets: the violent explosion rages against the tiles of the roofs and does not spare the farms are far from the epicenter of the eruption.
The latest news about the war in Ukraine
Yesterday at noon we arrived in the farming village of Bogoyaulinka to witness live the Russian attempt to occupy the entire Donbass. Putin’s soldiers in this area mostly bombard, often with planes. Unlike in the Kyiv region, the Russians here in Donbass feel they have enough control over the skies to get their jets airborne. So, in addition to the cannon fire from the ground, we also suffer from air attacks. However, we manage to block the armored columns. They’re bombing furiously but not gaining a meter of territory, they’re still in the trenches around Donetsk they were digging at the time of the 2014 war, a major in Ukraine’s regional logistics command, who agrees to do so, tells us to explain the course of the battle, but without being identified and photographed.
challenge to be played
His version of events is also confirmed by Pentagon observers: almost a week after the start of the so-called second phase of the Russian attack launched on Ukraine on February 24, long-distance bombing still takes the lion’s share. The Donbass Challenge has yet to be played. The Russians have advanced a few tens of kilometers in the northern areas around Izium, they have approached Sloviansk in the north, they are grappling with Marinka here in the south, they are bombing the roads to the west, but basically they are not moving. It would take very little to regain the areas we lost, our guide adds.
old and sick
Bogoyaulinka had over 1,500 residents until two months ago. It was a small community devoted to cultivating these hilly fields, apparently destined to facilitate the race for Russian tank columns. Today there are only a few dozen old and sick people left. Ukrainian soldiers stood in houses overlooking Russian outposts around Donetsk, only seven or eight kilometers away. We move cautiously, the whole area could be hit by Grad rockets and Russian light artillery at any moment. Now and then, just behind the rows of trees that border the fields marked by the narrow irrigation canals, the muffled rumble of the Battle of Marinka can be heard. In the front line we can see casemates and bunkers that were built at least seven years ago and are now well camouflaged by dense vegetation. The Ukrainian officers, who met at the nearby command post in the town of Kurakhove, from where the contingents responsible for blocking Russian infiltration of Marinka, Avdiivka, Krasnohorivka and the other inhabited centers in the Donetsk airport area depart, appear to be very pleased to praise the superiority of their arms just sent by the Americans and British over the obsolete ones in the hands of the Russians. Putin’s commands seem to have just emerged from the fighting of World War II. Their tank columns have little in common with aviation, proving powerless against our small, highly mobile commando units, which strike quickly and retreat quickly, and then choose other targets, they explain. According to this, the 80 Russian battalions deployed in the Donbass today number around 80,000 men, most of whom would be demotivated after the defeats in northern Kiev and would not be willing to take risks at all.
The putsch in the Moskva
Among their prisoners we have identified a large number of alcoholics, the classic cannon fodder, who had no desire to fight and only tried to hide and were happy to surrender at the first opportunity, she comments. The sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, a week ago seems to have been a heavy blow to Russian morale. It seems that since then the launching of missiles from the sea has practically stopped, but those launched from the ramps on Russian and Belarusian territory have increased. On the other hand, Ukrainian morale was boosted by the arrival of long-range artillery and mortars to their units, which guaranteed not only the defense of the positions, but also the planning of the next counter-offensives. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov writes in a tweet that the enemy’s military capabilities have decreased significantly.
Much caution
However, no one is ready to claim victory too soon. The 300-mile Eastern Front remains extremely difficult to defend, especially from an enemy that still has vast reserves of men and resources. President Zelensky himself continues to desperately demand arms from the international community and the imposition of a total economic embargo that will bring the Russian military machine to its knees. In the Donbass, too, we are dealing with soldiers who are familiar with the area and who count several veterans among their ranks. In addition, unlike the first waves, we see that the number of White Russians in the western regions has increased. People try to learn lessons from defeat, says a senior officer who trains his units to use reconnaissance drones to escort strike teams.
April 21, 2022 (Modification April 21, 2022 | 08:19)
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