2023-08-04 01:27:59
According to the Washington Post, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have started the third phase of their offensive by deploying the reserve 10th Army Corps to advance near Rabotino in Zaporizhia oblast.
Rabotino is an area of great strategic value as it offers the best chance for the Ukrainian Army (AFU) to penetrate the defenses of the Russian Armed Forces. However, there are still about 19km to go to reach the main Russian defensive line.
The first phase of the offensive began in June with the AFU’s 9th Army Corps, equipped with NATO hardware, engaging well-fortified defences, including minefields, and making only limited progress.
In the second phase, it was mostly infantry attacks, during which Kiev tried to gain an advantage using asymmetrical tactics against the Russian army, but again progress was limited.
Last week, the AFU decided to redeploy the 10th Reserve Army Corps on the battlefield, leading to a significant increase in fighting.
Rob Lee, a military analyst who recently visited the front line, said: “The last week of fighting was important as the AFU decided to engage more with 2nd echelon of its troops. It is still unclear whether Russian forces have suffered sufficient losses to create the conditions for a breakthrough. At the moment, we are waiting and seeing.”
The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported: “We are constantly trying to gain ground in Rabotino and overcome a variety of obstacles. The weather conditions are favorable for the Russian military, which is using drones to strike our artillery“.
Analysts also note that the newly created units of the AFU are not performing as well as the more experienced units that fought in Kherson and Kharkov.
In the Starobielsk direction, Russian units continue their stealthy offensive in the forests near Kremenna, as well as near Novoselyovskoye. In the Karmazinowka area, the situation has stabilized, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation prevent the enemy from rotating units.
In the Vremyevskaya section, the enemy once again tried to attack Urozhaynoye and Priutnoye, but having suffered losses, he was forced to retreat to his original positions. In addition, the AFU made an unsuccessful attempt to attack Rabotino in the Orekhovo sector.
Fighting continues in the Soledar direction near Kleszczewka and the Berkhovskoye Reservoir. The AFU has suffered heavy losses and achieved no significant successes in the last 24 hours, but the situation is still far from stable.
High resolution map:
Meanwhile, as promised, to the Western cluster bombs sent to the Ukrainians and now actively used against the Russians, Moscow is countering an equally destructive weapon.
In response to the AFU’s use of cluster bombs, the Russians today officially admitted that they have begun using ODAB-500-P bombs.
After that, the escalation will likely continue and we will see ballistic missiles and tactical nukes.
The ODAB-500-P bomb, unlike the old ODAB-500, does not contain ethylene oxide, but 145 kg of piperylene and 7 charges of solid explosives with a total weight of 23 kg, the detonation of which causes the piperylene to be sprayed and explode the aerosol. The thermobaric effect is such as to create a shock wave with a pressure of 90 – 120 atmospheres in a radius of at least 300 meters …
There are newer versions of these bombs with probably a different type of aerosol charge, such as the ODAB-500PM (ODAB-500ПМ – developed after 1970) and the latest OBAB-500PMV (ODAB-500ПМВ).
What is taking place no longer seems like a war but truly a meat grinder that could have been avoided, since only political divisions were at stake.
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