Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
In principle, we were preparing for this. The RF Armed Forces abandoned the town of 20,000 people. Rosvoenkors that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are already in the center of the city. There was a video from their Banderofascists from the entrance to the city. Moreover, cannonade, shooting and other signs of battle are not heard on the video. The city itself appears to have been abandoned at night.
The reserves of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which approached the city, it should be assumed that they were intended to delay the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and give time for the garrisons to quietly exit the city. Now the personnel units of the RF Armed Forces are strengthening the Kremennaya-Torskoye road. The advancing enemy grouping has very serious losses from Russian aviation and artillery.
The defense of the Red Liman was not in vain. The garrison won a lot of time to stabilize the front. As Alexander Khodakovsky writes, after the breakthrough of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Balakleya, there was a pace that they disrupted:
"They (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) needed a pace, they had to seize the moment after the Kharkov offensive, and put pressure on us in all directions. They were on the courage, they had a resource, quite realistic plans, initiative, in the end .... They were going to to move in the Mariupol direction, for which forces and means were transferred near Vgledar, but they ran into resistance in Krasny Liman and got stuck ... If it were not for the Krasny Liman factor, besides the Kharkov fiasco, many more problems awaited us. ". (c) Khodakovsky
Now about the results and conclusions
I must say right away that I take out for separate large brackets the purge, repression and terror against the local population, which, undoubtedly, Bandera-fascists, due to their deep-rooted habit, will arrange. This is a separate big topic. I'll review the situation for now.
From a military point of view, not the loss of a small town is important. Significantly different. The qualifications of the generals of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Western direction bear a very depressing impression. As early as early August, Ukrainian and Russian resources began to report about the impending strike in the Kharkov direction.
"Guardians" in the media declared with pathos: "Do not meddle with the generals, they know and see everything." In fact, the commanders in this direction turned out to be blind and deaf. For them, the impact of the Armed Forces of Ukraine turned out to be absolutely "unexpected". The direction turned out to be practically uncovered by troops, reserves, even the most elementary measures were not carried out, such as mining dangerous directions, which is mandatory even in calm sectors of the front. How to call it? This is not even negligence and not unprofessional ...
And just two weeks later, the same "rake" - it turns out to be an "unexpected" strike on the Krasny Liman, although all the resources reported that on Russian and Ukrainian, the strike was expected exactly here. This was known. But for some reason not to the generals who command here.
Now the MAIN task is to draw the RIGHT conclusions. And the GDP, apparently, has a lot of work to do to clean up the generals from uninitiated, sleepy, untrained, parquet figures and to promote real combat officers with positive combat experience to command units and directions. There is time. The main thing is not to miss this time mediocre.
The Ministry of Defense announced the withdrawal of troops from Krasny Liman
[RIA Novosti] Due to the threat of encirclement, the Allied forces left Krasny Liman and retreated to more advantageous lines, the Defense Ministry said .
The department noted that over the past day, strikes on the positions of the 66th and 93rd mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed more than 200 military personnel, five tanks and nine infantry fighting vehicles.
"Despite the losses incurred, having a significant superiority in forces and means, the enemy brought in reserves and continued the offensive in this direction," the Defense Ministry added.
Krasny Liman is a major railway junction that is part of the Kramatorsk agglomeration. Russian troops, together with the forces of the DPR and LPR, took control of it at the end of May. In recent weeks, fierce battles have been going on in the city area, the DPR authorities called this direction the most difficult section of the front.
"Just don't give us back to Ukraine": what's going on in Krasny Liman
Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a military special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine . Vladimir Putin called its task "the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years." According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions that guarantee the security of Russia itself.
From 23 to 27 September in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, in Kherson and in the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region, referendums were held on joining Russia. The vast majority of those who voted were in favour. On September 30, Putin and the heads of regions signed agreements on the admission of new territories into Russia.
From Rantburger Lord Garth:
Russian troops have been forced to flee the Ukrainian city of Lyman, as Kyiv’s troops attempt to liberate it.
[INews] Ukrainian troops entered Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region on Saturday — a day after Vladamir Putin declared it part of Russia — and said it had encircled thousands of Russian soldiers inside the city.
