The situation on the Pokrovsk direction as of early January. Current situation.
«Babel'»
1
Commander of the "Da Vinci Wolves" Serhii “Filya” Filimonov
The enemy is not going to attack Pokrovsk.
At the beginning of winter, the enemy was one and a half kilometers from Pokrovsk. Now our positions are there. There are places where the enemy is three kilometers from the city. But the distance is not important, because there is no attack on Pokrovsk. So the panic that fighting began near or in Pokrovsk itself is exaggerated. By winter, the enemy had captured many important settlements. For example, Novohrodivka and Selydove. These are cities from which there is a direct road to Pokrovsk. Then it became obvious: having so many bridgeheads for an attack on the city, the enemy is not going to take it by storm. He is expanding the front. His goal is to isolate the city by cutting off logistics.
Ukrainian forces are not only on the defensive.
Our battalion has been moving forward for the last month. We have partially liberated some villages that are of strategic importance for the upcoming offensive. I will not mention their names so as not to reveal this information to the enemy. In two months, our only major loss is the village of Kotlyne. There was the last mine that produced coking coal, and this is a blow to the economy and metallurgy of Ukraine. But even this position [Kotlyne] we have not completely lost — the fighting for it continues.
The routes to Pokrovsk are not blocked by the enemy.
For example, the Mezhova-Pokrovsk route was partially under enemy fire control in the summer. Now the use of FPV drones on fiber optics has increased there. Logistics is complicated in this area, and there is still no additional protection from forest belts, but the route can be used. The approach to almost all positions in the Pokrovsk direction is along one road, and it is difficult due to the “abundance” of enemy drones. But we still have enough routes to enter and exit Pokrovsk. All enemy logistics routes are also under our control.
Окремий батальйон Вовки Да Вінчі / «Бабель»
The enemy’s tactic is to infiltrate in groups.
They gather groups in Avdiivka, Selydove, Ukrainsk, and other settlements. These groups are brought to specific points, dropped off, and then they move on foot. We find phones on almost all enemy fighters. They have offline maps, which are navigated via GPS. Each group is given a point to reach. They are not told whether there are Ukrainian forces there. Their task is to reach the point, gain a foothold, and wait for the next group. If our forces have not built a reliable defense, the enemy can break through the positions and disrupt supplies. The first enemy assault groups carry anti-tank mines to block our logistics and prevent us from driving our equipment to the right places.
Another tactic of the enemy is mechanized assaults.
When the weather deteriorates and the ability to use drones is limited, the enemy begins to move towards positions on equipment. They assault on various vehicles, ranging from buggies, motorcycles and Zhiguli to infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), tanks, armoured personnel carriers and “Typhoons”. They use a lot of equipment. These are always combined operations.
The problem is still the unsatisfactory state of the fortifications.
The city has been fortified more than once. Now this is done by the people who defend this direction, the unit itself or someone under its leadership. In February, we stopped the enemyʼs advance on our section of the front only because we fortified ourselves. Now the enemyʼs equipment often does not reach our positions because it is blown up by anti-personnel mines. But this is not the case on all lines.
There are weak points — these are the newly created "green" brigades, which are placed on the front lines.
Due to lack of experience, they lose positions and people. Is the enemy more active in their areas? No. The enemy is advancing only because the defense is weaker there. On the positive side is that recently such brigades have been replaced.
It is also difficult because we have a very wide defense zone.
A battalion often holds a section that corresponds in length to a brigade. This is a big problem, because quantitatively the battalion cannot close all the empty spaces between the positions. And so the enemy seeps in. The distance between our forward positions and the enemy is in places 15 meters. Somewhere — up to 600.
Окремий батальйон Вовки Да Вінчі / «Бабель»
Opposite us is the enemyʼs 90th Panzer Division.
We have completely destroyed some of their units twice: they went out for a full recovery and are entering battle for the third time. Yes, the enemy has a significant advantage in men, but with such heavy losses it cannot last long. For our battalion, a successful day is at least 10 destroyed opponents. So you can imagine their losses in a month.
The enemy cannot constantly advance at this pace.
At the same time, the Commander-in-Chief [Olexandr Syrskyi] makes it clear that his strategy for conducting the battle is to liberate territories, to counterattack. It is impossible to win on the defensive. Therefore, we assume that conditions for an offensive are now being prepared.
2
Command of the 155th Brigade
The brigadeʼs first battle in Pokrovsk took place on December 6. Then the enemy was advancing.
Our units were in the villages of Novotroitske and Shevchenko. And if the enemy completely controls Novotroitske, then the situation in Shevchenko is different. The Defense Forces units are in the northwestern part of the village. We are destroying the enemy, who is still trying to capture the village. Shevchenko is an important logistical hub.
Now the distance between our unit and the enemy ranges from 20-30 meters, when the enemy is sitting in the next house, to 1.5 kilometers.
The enemy does not control the Mezhova-Pokrovsk and Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka routes.
But the enemy is actively shelling the approaches to Pokrovsk, using FPV drones. This complicates logistics, so the Armed Forces of Ukraine often use safer routes for movement. The enemy has lost its offensive potential and is no longer trying to surround Pokrovsk. He continues to storm with a large number of equipment and personnel, but due to significant losses he is unable to break through the defense.
It is difficult to say whether we will attack.
For this we must have an advantage in strength and technology. Therefore, it is still too early to talk about large offensive operations. The success of the offensive largely depends on how badly the enemy has suffered from our attacks. Now it [the enemy] is exhausted, but no one knows what will happen in a month.
155 ОМБр ім. Анни Київської / «Бабель»
If the enemy captures Pokrovsk, it will be able to advance to other important settlements in the Donetsk region, such as Dobropillia and Kostyantynivka, as well as further beyond the borders of the Donetsk region. Currently, the Defense Forces units, with the support of military administrations, are strengthening the lines, which in the event of a withdrawal will help contain the enemy.
3
Representative of the operational-tactical level command
In December-January, the enemy tried to storm and quickly seize more territory.
It [the enemy] took advantage of the fact that we do not have enough stable infantry, and the infantry units are only 20-30% manned. For example, a battalion that was supposed to occupy a defense strip of 5 to 7 kilometers was stretched to 15 kilometers. This means that the distance between the positions of the detachments and the firing points of our infantry could be from 800 meters to a kilometer. They could not see each other. The enemy took advantage of this. It [the enemy] found a weak link in this direction — where the defense is held by the newly formed brigades.
From there they broke through the defense to enter the settlements and further to Pokrovsk.
They did not succeed, because after the change of leadership in our direction, our approach to defense also changed. The Russians lost many people, they surrendered en masse, so the enemy withdrew to regroup. He retreated in the direction of the main attack, near the villages of Velyka Novosilka and Shakhtarske, in order to gain a foothold there and expand his bridgehead.
The enemy is actively shelling settlements near Pokrovsk, trying to complicate logistics.
Many civilians are dying. Drones control all roads, but there is still an entrance to Pokrovsk. There is also a road from Pokrovsk to the settlement of Hryshyne, which is one of the main logistical routes. The enemy often launches fire strikes along this road, trying to block it. However, we have installed mobile electronic warfare equipment and mobile fire groups. We are shooting down all drones, and now there are no obstacles to travel to Pokrovsk.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
We are also exhausting the enemy, and now the Russians are retreating.
They have no chance of advancing in this direction in the coming months. However, they are not giving up their plans to reach the administrative border of the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. But now this region is being actively fortified — both by local authorities and the military. In order not to repeat the situation that occurred on the Pokrovsk direction.
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