Translation note: The Russian word for cauldron, Котел, or kettle (translated as boiler) with the more common term for the word, cauldron. A better word would be pocket, which the Germans used during WWII. Only replaced in the title.
[KP] The events of recent days have clearly outlined (or confirmed) the strategic plan of the “battle for Donbass” and all the fears of Kyiv politicians and the military. Military correspondent KP.RU Dmitry Steshin saw this battle from two sides with his own eyes
They tried to destroy the pipe with shells and even hit once, but it resisted.
FIELD OF SLAVYANSK
The first, logical question - what does Bakhmut (Artemovsk) have to do with it? It turns out everything is connected. Even at the beginning of summer, when fighting began in the Ugledar direction, I heard the following opinion from the fighting officers: 'If only we don’t have to storm Slavyansk and Kramatorsk head-on, we’ll get stuck.'
In fact, with the fall of Bakhmut, the enemy in the Donbass will have the last defensive knot, the so-called "Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration." A long gut of cities, towns and industrial zones, running in an arc from north to south.
This natural defensive line had, as they say in Ukraine - fortifications, fortresses in the foreground - Soledar, Bakhmut and many adjacent villages turned into defensive nodes. These villages, for the most part, have already been taken. Soledar fell, the capture of Bakhmut is a matter of the near future.
According to local residents and official statements by the Ukrainian authorities, since Monday, access to Bakhmut has been closed to civilians who do not live in the city, volunteers and journalists. And all the roads leading to Bakhmut are either cut or shot through. There is no reason not to trust the locals.
As early as last week, the "Wagnerites" storming Bakhmut from the north confirmed to the military commander "KP" - "the enemy's artillery activity has noticeably decreased."
And the last foreign journalists who visited the city - from the British BBC, in their report noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to experience a shortage of ammunition even for small arms. The moment is unpleasant for the enemy, especially when fighting began in urban areas.
Under the circumstances, we can wait for the enemy to start retreating to more reliable lines - that is, to the "Slavyansko-Kramatorsk agglomeration". But, there he prepared an unpleasant surprise.
Everyone remembers the sad story of the French defensive Maginot Line, which the German Wehrmacht simply bypassed, did not hammer concrete fortifications in the forehead? In this story, the whole problem of such defensive lines is hidden - they can be bypassed, they are not designed for all-round defense.
Even fortresses built to fight in complete encirclement always have weak spots where the walls are lower, the stockade is rotten, the fighters are cowardly and untrained. What can we say about the 100-kilometer gut of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, accustomed to fighting only on one side, from the east.
The Kyiv military and politicians have repeatedly stated that Kramatorsk and Slavyansk will become "indestructible strongholds against which the Muscovite hordes will break." Of course, if the "Moskal hordes" begin to storm them head-on, from the East. For a number of reasons, we will not do this.
The first sign is a sharp intensification of fighting near Kremennaya, hanging from the north over Slavyansk.
And the second sign is the beginning of the assault on Ugledar. It is not going smoothly and not in everything smoothly, but no one backed down. In this town is our chance to go from the south to the rear of the "Slavyansko-Kramatorsk" group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Because behind Vuhledar there are no more powerful Ukrainian defensive centers, there are no big cities. Fields and a rare grid of roads - nothing to cling to the enemy.
The means of objective control transmitted a mean black-and-white picture of the "product" hitting the top of the pipe, exactly through the electronic "eyes" and antennas.
BYPASS FROM THE SOUTH
The second option is an intermediate result: to half or completely surround the grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine standing near Donetsk and digging in there for nine years. The whole world knows the name of these towns and villages like Avdievka and Marinka, from which Ukrainian troops have been shelling the capital of the DPR all this time.
Over the weekend, ours used the so-called “product 305” on Vuhledar. The tallest building in the town is the CHP chimney. The Armed Forces of Ukraine hung on it all possible means of observation - optics, thermal imagers, night vision devices. Ugledar is already on a hill, so the enemy, in fact, controlled all approaches to the city and the entire offensive zone from the pipe. They tried to destroy the pipe with shells and even hit once, but it resisted.
"Product 305" carries 25 kg. explosives and is launched from a helicopter at a distance of up to 14 kilometers. The means of objective control transmitted a mean black-and-white picture (watch the video on our website KP.RU) of the “product” hitting the top of the pipe, exactly on the electronic “eyes” and antennas. Now there is confidence that our Ugledar will no longer be left alone, they will take it and move on.
Until the pincers squeeze the last "Bandera stronghold" in the Donbass.