Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets is in italics.
Yesterday, the head of the PMC "Wagner" spoke about the difficult situation on the flanks, "according to the worst scenario" and the withdrawal of units of the RF Ministry of Defense in a number of sectors.
Military bloggers joined the study of the agenda and, based on their data from the field, described what happened
Anastasia Kashevarova
“There is a war of one trench going on,” one of the Wagner PMC commanders told me. Everyone sees only what is around him and from this he draws a conclusion about the whole situation at the front. And at the same time, everyone believes that only he is fighting and only he is a hero, and everyone else is guarding the corn.
For two days I analyzed the situation that happened in Khromovo, the village of Zaitsevo, where the Wagner and the 72nd Brigade were stationed. I know both of them. I know that both fighters will fight to the death, but what happened? After all, I know a story where they helped each other.
Everything is simple. Action inconsistency. The Wagners withdrew from that flank because they had a breakthrough elsewhere, and the 72nd Brigade did not know this. The 72nd had artillery there, but there were no assault ones. And that's where the Ukrainians came in.
The brigade commander of the 72nd, call sign "North", a fucking man, I know him personally, that night he himself got into an armored personnel carrier and rushed to the breakthrough line. It was hot. Losses and "Wagner" and the 72nd. As a result, Ukrainians advanced 3 km.
While she was figuring out all the circumstances, such a ball was unwound by squabbles and squabbles. Worse than women, honestly. And everyone is offended by each other. Wagner, they say they tried to contact the 72nd, but they did not want to interact. 72nd says that no one came out to them. The 72nd BAN (my note - !!!) to work with Wagner PMC from the Moscow Region, and "Wagner" are too proud. Fuck crawl through the jungle of whining.
Guys, what are we fighting for? Well, what kind of asshole from all sides? You can negotiate with each other at the front, because you are sitting there ass to ass! Although often the brigades do not even know who is on their left and who is on the right, and whether the rear is covered.
SOP for Russian operations, and that is how communications are constructed as well. If the commander demands it, he will order you not to contact units on the flanks, nor notice what they are doing. They have their orders. You have yours.
There is no single command that would be respected by all without exception. It is very necessary, a huge number of people at the front, and the forces cannot agree with each other. Complete disunity of the front. The enemy is using it. After all, fighters suffer because of disunity, they are all ours, like the DNR, that the LNR, that the mobilized, that the volunteer, that the military commander, that the commando, Akhmatova or Wagner PMC.
Are we going to fight normally? Or send a line to the front, so that once and for all they find out who has more? The main thing is that you have more than the enemy, and strength, and spirit, and brains.
Everyone wants to be the face of war. Everyone wants to be heroes. Saviors. But without unity this will not happen. You are all fighting and all heroes. But if you don't bring your pride down, we won't win.
Tynts: https://t.me/akashevarova/6372
Yuri Kotenok
In general, the Ministry of Defense reassured everyone - everything is under control, even local encroachments of the enemy in certain areas. What's on the ground?
"The brigade commander of the 72nd with the call sign "Sever," an excellent man, that night he got into an armored personnel carrier and rushed to the place of the breakthrough."
It is, of course, a song of songs. It is not for me to judge whether a brigade commander with the call sign "Sever" is a good or bad man, but, in my opinion, the one who writes is not quite Copenhagen. What armored personnel carrier did the brigade commander sit on, if there is a breakthrough on the western bank of the Seversky Donets canal, and there is no passage for equipment there, it is not equipped?(my note - here, it seems to me, Yuri is not quite right, the brigade commander could well have gone PART OF THE WAY in an armored personnel carrier).
Why climbed sodomites? Because (despite the peppy reports upstairs) there was no outpost in that place.
How did events unfold as the enemy advanced?
So. On May 9, on Victory Day, if anything, at 5.50 two tanks drove up and one by one began to hit from the first km with direct fire at the Dry Pool position. Accordingly, the infantry played a retreat.
Ukrainians raised the quadric, looked that the positions had been abandoned. They put forward the M113 armored personnel carrier, dropped the infantry - eight people. The infantry began to roll into position.
The brigade commander tried to stop the breakthrough by pushing a reserve - a tank company. She walked for half a day, and one of the six tanks reached! And when he arrived, it turned out that he did not have high-explosive fragmentation shells, only cumulative and SABOT ones! They removed two companies from the second echelon and transferred them to the breakthrough site, but they did not go - Ukrainians constantly worked as artillery.
About shell hunger (everything according to the norms of the General Staff). And how to fight if the artillery of the brigade is only 0.2 bq. This is 1/5 part, if anything. So they got it! During the breakthrough, Ukrainian's "Bradley" were accidentally knocked out.
But how to fight if the PPU (advanced command post) of the brigade is 40 km from the line of contact? How? It's a full barrel.
The next day, General Sychevoi arrived at the breakthrough site, recaptured 300 meters from the sodomites, the rest did not.
What is the reason for the local advance of the enemy?
1. Lies of officials at the level of the battalion commander.
2. Lack of ownership of the situation.
3. Cowardice of units (specifically, they know which and where) and, above all, the battalion commander and commander.
4. Lack of aerial reconnaissance.
5. Unpreparedness, unequipped positions and lack of anti-tank weapons.
6. Unpreparedness of reserves and their helplessness.
7. The absence of minefields in front of the positions.
8. Lack of stable communication.
9. Intrigues with PMCs, who the day before left the western bank of the canal on the right neighboring defense sector, but did not say anything about it.
Any coincidences are random (s).
Tynts: https://t.me/voenkorKotenok/47493
Why did I post these comments? Problems can only be solved by acknowledging them. And if you do not recognize it, then there seems to be nothing to change and nowhere to develop.
From Russkaya Vesna
Prigozhin invites Shoigu to come to Artyomovsk
The head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, published an appeal written by him to the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
In his letter, Prigozhin invites Shoigu to come to Artemovsk (Bakhmut) in order to personally assess the situation in the city.
"Currently, units of PMC Wagner control more than 95% of the capital. the village of Bakhmut. and continue the offensive for his complete liberation. On the flanks of the Wagner PMC, where the units of the RF Armed Forces are located, the enemy launched a number of successful counterattacks.
Given the difficult operational situation, as well as your many years of experience in combat operations, I ask you to arrive on the territory of the settlement. Bakhmut, who is under the control of paramilitary units of the Russian Federation, and independently assess the current situation," the text of the appeal says.