[REGNUM] Expert Onufrienko: if you try to counterattack near Artemovsk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will fall into the “fire bag”
In the Artyomovsk direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine concentrated, "according to various estimates, from 12 to 20 brigades of varying degrees of readiness, which hold the front, including in Minkovka" - a village north-west of Artyomovsk near the highway leading to Slavyansk. Such an assessment in a commentary to IA REGNUM on March 17 was given by military observer Mikhail Onufrienko.
In the vicinity of Artyomovsk, it was possible to move the front line away from the city, which makes it difficult to launch a counterattack, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine are counting on, the expert noted. He explained: "Now the enemy will have to knock out the Russian Armed Forces from the outskirts of Orekhovo-Vasilevka and Zaliznyansky - two villages near the Artyomovsk-Slavyansk highway. This is if the Armed Forces of Ukraine are going to strike from the north - that is, to eliminate the ledge that now exists between Seversk and Artyomovsk, including Soledar. This prospect is unrealistic for them."
The enemy can choose the option of a counteroffensive from the southwest and west - from Konstantinovka through Chasov Yar, the expert pointed out. But, he explained, in this case, a problem arises for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “ the attackers will find themselves in a “fire bag” , because the distance between the northern and southern flanks of our troops is about 10–15 km in different sectors.
“That is, they are completely blocked by howitzer rocket artillery, and many times over. Even regimental mortars completely cover these positions. It is possible to lead brigades there with the aim of deblocking Artyomovsk, but if more or less competent officers sit in the General Staff of the Russian Federation - and this is so, no matter what anyone says - then they will be ready for this, ”Onufrienko predicts.
In this case, additional cannon rocket artillery and aviation will be transferred there, and these brigades will be burned out in the same way as during the fighting in Davydov Brod (Kherson region), in the spring and summer of 2022, "where up to 100 armored vehicles were destroyed per day," noted companion. "Plus, it’s problematic even for tracked vehicles to step on such mud as it is now," Onufrienko added.
The expert also noted: the supply along the roads through which the APU grouping in Seversk is supplied is not going on, because "the above-mentioned road to Slavyansk has long been cut, namely, the offensive is going on along it, and Dubovo-Vasilevka is located on it, which was taken under control Russian assault units more than a week ago.
"Now there are fights on the outskirts of Orekhovo-Vasilevka. To the north of the highway, the village of Zaliznyanskoye was also liberated, and a little to the south, fighting was going on around Khromovo, through which the road to Chasov Yar went. This road was not saddled, but there were battles in Khromovo itself, and one could not advance further along this road, and one could not transfer troops to Artyomovsk. For battles in Khromovo, you can throw up troops, but the road is shot through - even from machine guns. This is a big problem for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Onufrienko said.
The Russian military stopped attempts to leave several platoons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Artyomovsk, Denis Pushilin , acting head of the DPR , said on March 17. According to him, our units managed to gain a foothold at the AZOM plant in Artyomovsk, they are moving deeper into the industrial zone.
If control over Artyomovsk passes to Russia, “other cities would be next,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told the BBC.