2023-09-23 09:09:52
After months of brutal fighting on the Southern Front, armor from the Ukrainian 82nd Air Assault Brigade has managed to break the final line of the three Russian defensive layers around Verbove, according to Ukrainian military sources. A transcendental success that represents the establishment of a bridgehead for the development of the Kyiv counteroffensive that, de facto, enters a new phase of combat and ends the criticism that, since August, called it too slow, thus confirming the words of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who recently assured that they were “on the verge of achieving a breakthrough.”
Geolocated images endorsed by the North American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) confirm that the Stryker armored vehicles, together with the Marder infantry combat vehicles and the MaxxPro personnel carriers, have crossed the minefields, the Russian anti-tank ditches and the dragon’s teeth obstacles that are part of the bombastic defense established by the Kremlin troops.
Currently, Volodymyr Zelensky’s soldiers are trying to consolidate the position located about 18 km southeast of Orikhiv. A task that will be arduous, but surely more fluid than during previous weeks because securing the gap in the first two Russian lines means that Ukrainian troops have eliminated enemy artillery posts and their anti-tank systems. Likewise, the Army flying the yellow and blue flag has managed to advance to the edge of the nearby city of Novoprokopivka, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
However, success on this part of the front in Western Zaporizhzhia Oblast is only one of the many steps the Kyiv Army has to take to complete the Herculean task of recapturing the south of its national territory. To do this, he will have to defeat the units that the Russian army has laterally deployed in the area, which include elements of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division (VDV) and the 76th Guards VDV Division, which are entrenched in the area of the city of Robotyne, whose center was liberated on August 28, as confirmed then by the former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Malyar.
Additionally, satellite images released this week show that Zelensky’s soldiers will also have to battle the 22nd Guards Spetsnaz (Special Forces) Brigade operating west of Verbove, which is entrenched about 18 km southeast of Orikhiv. which “suggests that the Russian command has tactically transferred elements of the 22nd Brigade to support the VDV elements already observed defending the area,” according to the ISW.
Elsewhere on the front, Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovalyov reported various advances in the Melitopol area, also located on the Zaporiya contact line, where “the defense forces are inflicting losses on the enemy, exhausting the Russian invasion forces and forcing them to withdraw from their positions,” he said on state television. In addition, Kyiv’s shock troops “continue to attack enemy positions south of Bakhmut,” adding that on this front they have successfully repelled attacks in the area northeast of Hryhorivka. “The enemy also tried to regain lost ground around Andriyivka, Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, but was unsuccessful,” he explained.
It should be noted that, in the direction of Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops have managed to retain fire control on the Bakhmut-Gorlivka highway, which represents a serious setback for the logistics of the Russian army. «Intense fighting continues on the fringe of the Eastern troop group. “I can say that the fighting is dynamic, but the types of operations are different: if in the Kupyansk-Lymansk direction we are defending, trying to contain the enemy, then in Bakhmut we are successful and continue to expel them,” said the head of the press service of the Eastern Forces Group, Ilya Yevlash.
Sevastopol in flames
Although the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, wrote yesterday on his social networks that the missile attack by Ukraine against the Headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had left no civilian casualties or damage. The Russian news agency TASS confirmed one death and ten injuries.
The media speculated that the deceased could be Commander Vitkor Sokolov, but at press time there was no official confirmation of his death.
TASS assured that the air defense systems installed on the peninsula shot down “10 missiles heading towards Crimea.” The port city, which serves as the main base of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea and is key to the defense of Crimea (illegally annexed by the Kremlin after the more than questionable 2014 referendum), is now suffering on a daily basis. It is lived throughout the Ukrainian mainland. Shortly after the explosions, Razvozhayev warned residents that “new attacks may occur” and urged them “not to leave the buildings, nor go to the city center.” Once the initial danger had passed, Moscow’s puppet reiterated to the population that they should not approach the city center because “the roads are closed and unspecified special efforts are being carried out.” Sources from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense indicated to LA RAZÓN that “they are trying to hide the real damage of this successful attack.”
On the other hand, last Wednesday, another attack with drones and Neptune missiles against the Russian Saki airfield, where, according to sources from the Ukrainian Security Service, at least 12 combat aircraft (Su-24 and Su-30) are located, as well as the portable Pantsir anti-aircraft missile system and the training base for Mojaher unmanned aerial vehicle operators, caused “serious damage and at least 30 soldiers dead,” according to the intelligence service.
That same day, the Ukrainian Army also attacked the 744th Communications Center of the Black Sea Fleet Command, and managed to destroy a significant part of the command post near Verkhnosadove (16 kilometers northeast of Sevastopol).
Likewise, in mid-September, Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Yusov confirmed that “a large Ropucha-class landing ship and a Kilo-class submarine were hit.” The Sevmorzavod naval repair facility was also damaged in the attack, according to the head of the Ukrainian air force, Mykola Oleshchuk. Although it has not yet been confirmed, surely the missiles used belonged to the type of Storm Shadow cruiser, produced by the United Kingdom, or the SCALP class, made in France, which have a range of approximately 240 kilometers, triple that of the missiles that Ukraine previously used, which, once again, highlights the importance of providing Kyiv with effective weapons to repel the Kremlin’s aggression.
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