Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
Apparently the Russian have struck an Ukrainian military training ground at Selidovo with rocket artillery with cluster munitions.
Story could variously be titled: Col. Gen. Syrsky's First Big Headache as Top Dawg
[ColonelCassad] According to Selidovo.
1. Of course, there are no 1,500 killed there. This is approximately how much was on the training ground in formation at the time of the impact.
There is no objective data yet on exactly how many of them were killed and how many were wounded. For now, we can say that the enemy suffered serious one-time losses in manpower - one of the largest in the last year.
2. The fact that the calculation was to destroy manpower is evidenced by a cascade of strikes, including the use of cluster munitions. This may be one of the most effective uses of cluster munitions in the entire war.
3. The enemy will, of course, look for those residents in the territories occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces who led the attack, since such attacks are usually associated with both technical reconnaissance work and additional guidance on the ground, so it is not surprising that the SBU is looking for who helped lead the attack.
4. The enemy will traditionally keep secret and underestimate losses, and they will try to spread the total number over time. Specialists tracking obituaries are already at a low start. I would not exclude the possibility that some of the corpses will be kept in refrigerators for some time or even declared “missing near Avdievka.” And then you don’t have to pay money and you don’t have to admit big numbers.
Details available via Russkaya Vesna, including an after action aerial video of the impact zone
A cluster munition strike struck a base with a concentration of forces and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Tsukurino (MAP, VIDEO)
Footage of attacks on a Ukrainian military facility in the Tsukurino area in the Ukrainian Armed Forces-occupied part of the DPR has been published on the Internet.
Reportedly destroyed:
— Two infantry fighting vehicles;
— four trucks with ammunition and equipment;
— two minibuses and four pickups with personnel;
— warehouse of military-technical equipment;
- up to 30 enemy manpower.
More details via Russkaya Vesna and Russia Today chief editor Margarita Simonyan
Russian Army dealt a powerful blow to the Ukrainian Armed Forces training ground; Commander-in-Chief Syrsky classified information about losses
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan reported that the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, ordered the classification of data on the losses of the Ukrainian side as a result of a powerful strike by the Russian Army on the training camp of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Selidovo (part of the DPR occupied by Kiev).
All militaries refuse to report sharp reverses, and the Russian military is no different.
“They write from Ukraine that Syrsky prohibited any information about losses in Selidovo, where our forces struck powerfully.
There they trained a horde of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for Avdievka. They write about 1,500 people,” Simonyan clarified on Telegram.
More details via Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets.
Strike at Selidovo
Syrsky began with a fiasco.
A powerful complex missile strike was reported on a military training ground in Selidovo (on the territory of the DPR, controlled by Kiev). The reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were covered during the formation. The Russian army used several Iskander missiles with a cassette part and added the Smerch MLRS, also with a cassette part. And later they additionally duplicated the blow. The first strike was struck at about 11.30.
At the training ground, experienced units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine underwent combat coordination for the further relief of Avdievka. There were more than a thousand personnel at that time (1,000-1,500 military personnel). Presumably, it was the Azov 3rd Assault Elite Brigade, recently sent by Syrsky as reinforcements, that was attacked.
Which explains the motivation for the artillery strike. Emphasis mine.
The warhead of each Iskander missile includes 54 submunitions. Each of them contains a little more than 300 damaging elements. That is, in total, the missile warhead contains more than 17,000 destructive elements. The warhead "opens up" about two km from the ground, and the submunitions scatter. And they, too, detonate near the ground. As a result, the affected area there is up to 17 hectares per missile. To understand, 1 hectare is a little more than 2 football fields. Here is one Iskander cluster warhead mowing down infantry over an area of 34 football fields.
Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Maryana Bezuglaya stated that (after the incident in Selidovo) mass checks began in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - from the General Staff to those responsible “on the ground.”
The city is completely closed to entry and exit; there are many ambulances and corpse trucks near the landfill. The enemy's military leadership is completely at a loss. The number of Ukrovermacht losses apparently runs into hundreds and hundreds. It can be stated that the enemy suffered serious one-time losses in manpower. There is deathly silence on Ukrainian public pages. Apparently they are thinking about how to react. But it is clear that the strike itself will be hushed up as much as possible, and the death toll will be underestimated as much as possible.
WHY DID THE UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES CONCENTRATE IN SELIDOVO?
The city is conveniently located in relation to both the current front line and the main transport communications. To the north of the settlement lies the E-50 highway, and to the west, in the Vishnevoye area, there is a railway line that goes to Pokrovsk and further to Pavlograd or Zaporozhye.
Also, the enterprises and mines in the north of Selidov are approached by railway lines that go north through Novogrodovka and further to Pokrovsk.
In addition, Selidov itself once had a developed industry: three mines, a processing plant, a reinforced concrete structures plant and others. Now the enterprises are not operating, but the capital buildings have been preserved. They provide a lot of opportunities for the secret placement of personnel, military equipment, ammunition and military equipment. How about "secretive"? Results on the face.
Ukrainian military responds, via lb.ua
Tarnavskyi refutes the fake Russians about the alleged losses of the Defense Forces near Selidov in Donetsk region
The commander stated that this is how the occupiers divert attention from their daily colossal losses in the Taurian direction.
by Vera Perun
Tarnavskyi refuted the fake Russians about the alleged losses of the Defense Forces near Selidov in Donetsk region
The commander of the Tavria operational-strategic group of troops Oleksandr Tarnavskyi denied the fake Russian propaganda about the alleged losses of the Defense Forces near Selidov in Donetsk region.
According to Tarnavskyi's post in the telegram, this Russian IPSO is intended to divert attention from the heavy losses of the Russians in the Tauri direction. "They numbered 645 people only on the day of February 12, and for the previous week (from February 5 to 11) - 2,947 people," the commander emphasized.
Tarnavsky also informed about the Russian shelling of the village of Tsukuryne, Pokrovsky District. The enemy attacked the settlement around 10:40 a.m. on February 13. "Employees of the State Emergency Service inspected the area and established that as a result of the shelling, 2 multi-apartment two-story residential buildings on Svitla Street and a passenger car were damaged. There were no casualties or deaths," the commander added.
According to Tarnavskyi, during the past day, on February 12, the Russians in the Tavri direction have inflicted the largest number of air and artillery strikes since the beginning of the year. The intensity of the fighting is increasing.