Espreso. Global

Frontline results of the week. Eventually, military facilities in Moscow can be hit as legitimate targets

31 December, 2022 Saturday
19:17

Russia must feel threatened deep in its territory. After a while, the Ukrainian Armed Forces may hit Russian military facilities in Moscow.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces need new weapons to give the Russian forces no break

We expect different types of weapons to arrive because we cannot conduct offensive operations. General Zaluzhnyi said we need tanks, armored combat vehicles and artillery. This is necessary for those areas where we must act ahead of schedule and not give the Russian army the opportunity for respite, which Russia is currently seeking. We must see samples of weapons at least in the first quarter. First of all, tanks, because this is an impetus to ensure the formation of units that are waiting for foreign equipment.

The Ukrainian military can surround Kreminna. The situation in the Luhansk region 

Dvorichna, Pershotravneve, Vilshana. They were under our control and if the enemy is now trying to fire at them, this confirms our control. They are located north of Svatove and this is a sign that the Russian army is trying to probe our defenses. The grouping of Russian troops, which may be located in the Belgorod region in the north, is one of the possible directions  of the Russian offensive. This direction is dangerous, it is controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We understand that we are also conducting offensive actions to minimize the Russian influence in the area north of Svatove.

We haven't captured Kreminna, but we have reached the option of when we can surround this settlement. Kreminna is extremely important for the development of further offensive operations. In parallel with the attempt to encircle Kreminna, fighting is taking place around Chervonopopivka and Ploshchanka. Russia is trying to hold these positions, but Chervonopopivka is located just on the Svatove-Kreminna highway. I think that in the coming days we will see some activation around Kreminna.

Now Russia is transferring a lot of personnel from Svatove to Kreminna, trying to hold off the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. All these areas will remain active because this is the direction where we aim to conduct offensive actions.

The commander of the Western Military District has been changed in Russia. 

This district is responsible for part of the troops that are located above the group located in the north of the Luhansk region. The reason for changing the commander has several versions. First, the group of Kadyrov, Surovikin and Prigozhin puts its own representative, instead of a person who was previously part of the Shoigu-Gerasimov group. This is a sign of systemic contradictions in the leadership of the Russian army and paramilitary formations that conflict with the leadership of the Russian forces. This is useful. If Nikiforov doesn't protect Svatove and Kreminna, he will be responsible for the actions of troops that may be preparing for an offensive from the north.  

The Valuyki zone (Russia) is used by the Russian forces to accumulate forces and conduct probing strikes on our territory. Perhaps the Valuyki-Svatove-Kreminna section will be the only area of responsibility where Wagner forces with new generals in the district leadership will try to achieve success. It will be difficult, but there is a line of defense here, and the Wagner forces are already rushing to Svatove and Kreminna.

This suggests that the Bakhmut-Svatove-Kreminna section is the area of one military-political group's responsibility in Russia that is trying to achieve success and conquer it for Putin.

The accumulation of force on Ukraine’s part allows us to continue to advance around Kreminna with sufficient resources, reserves and changes in the weather situation. I think that the issue of capturing Kreminna and breaking through Russian defense is quite real in the short term. Then the exit to Starobilsk as a transport hub that provides the entire grouping of Russian forces, which hangs over Bakhmut, will complicate their situation in this city.

Russian forces are trying to cut two highways in the Bakhmut area

Fighting is currently taking place along the entire frontline near Bakhmut, starting from Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut and further. Deputy chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, general Hromov, said that the Russian army pulled almost all artillery systems from the south and from the Kharkiv region to maintain the power of artillery in this area. But they don't have enough ammunition. There is a shortage of shells because we are destroying warehouses.

 

When we return to the city itself, drawing the enemy into it is because we have units that can make the battles in the city bloody for the Russian forces. There is no particular reason to worry that the enemy will enter Bakhmut's right bank. This is impossible because the right side of the city is further. This allowed artillery to destroy Russian troops. 

A situation is more likely when the Russian army will try to surround Bakhmut from the south and north. In the north, they are trying to get between Soledar and Bakhmutske. It is difficult, but the Russians are trying to cut one of the routes that provide supplies to Bakhmut from the south. The second direction in the south is the area of Kurdiumivka and Klishchyivka. Russia wants to cross the canal and further develop an offensive on another route that provides supplies to Bakhmut from the West there. It is impossible to get through the terrain without significant losses. Russian forces advanced only 5 km in the 50 km sector of the front in 6 months.

In the south, the mission will last 2-3 months before the offensive operation

The entire south front from the left bank of the Kherson region to Zaporizhzhia (200 km) is under constant control of our reconnaissance equipment. Destroying 20 command posts is extremely important. The Russian forces do not have enough officers. We make it even more difficult for the Russian army to manage their units. 

 

In Polohy, there are strikes every other day, because it is a railway and road junction. On the one hand, we are destroying Russian plans to accumulate forces. On the other hand, we are creating conditions for further offensive actions. This front of 200 km by 80 km in depth will become the basis for the work of long-range artillery for 2-3 months. This will be a formative mission before an offensive operation.

Russia must feel threatened deep into its territory

We understand that we will use "hate embodied in metal" at military facilities, observing the rules of warfare. Moscow also has facilities like the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense, or bases that can be used as legitimate military targets after a certain time. We will do this a little later because there are issues of blocking Crimea and liberating the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and then plans may change.

Crimea already feels that the Russian forces need to leave the peninsula. Trenches are being dug near the border area. Russian forces must feel threatened deep in its territory so that the combat capabilities are balanced. Zaluzhnyi said that we do not have enough long-range rockets that is why we feel this disparity.

Entering the war will be a disaster for Belarus

Probably, the missile fall in Belarus is the consequence of the Russian attack on Ukraine. We need to conduct an investigation and find out whose missile it is. When we talk about Belarus, the statements of our military say that this state will have disastrous consequences if it gets involved in military operations together with Russian units. At that time, we will use all missiles to completely put an end to the alliance between Russia and Belarus doing something to threaten our interests.

For a month and a half, the Russians have no opportunity to resort to any large-scale actions along the entire sector of the front line. Now they are trying to keep as much as possible what they have and carry out maximum actions around Bakhmut, where their power is exhausted.

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