In a mobile defensive scheme, you have little choice but for counterattacks.
[Korrespondent] Pavlyuk is confident that in the near future the situation at the front will stabilize and Ukrainian troops will go into active action.
Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Alexander Pavlyuk said that the situation at the front remains difficult, but controllable. Ukraine plans to carry out counterstrike operations this year. He said this on the telethon.
According to Pavlyuk, the Russians are doing everything to occupy the territories as much as possible before the presidential elections in Russia. According to intercepted conversations, the enemy is throwing even those who came to the front without preparation a week or two ago into assaults.
“Everything is being done in order to seize the initiative. Our task is to stabilize the front line, destroy the enemy as much as possible, regroup as much as possible to withdraw units that require restoration, create a strike group and carry out counterattack operations this year. We are succeeding. The situation is stabilizing,” – said the commander of the Ground Forces.
He added that there were several hot directions left: the direction of Avdievka; direction of Chasovoy Yar; direction Terna towards Liman.
“I think that we will stabilize the situation in the near future and will do everything to ensure that the troops take active action and seize the initiative,” Pavlyuk noted.
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Ukrainian forces set a new line of defense near Avdievka
Strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Avdeevsky direction.
Active work on the construction of fortifications began in December 2023 and was carried out even before the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdievka.
The representative of the Tavria operational-strategic group, Dmitry Likhovy, on Wednesday, March 6, published on Facebook photos of engineering and fortification structures at four different points in the Avdeevsky direction. In particular, 2 km before the then combat line, in the “red zone”.
According to him, the defense fortifications have already been largely built. In some places (a little further from the front line) they are still being built.
Depending on the line, this is done by regional administrations, civil contractors - construction companies; State Special Transport Service; engineering units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, engineering units of mechanized and motorized infantry brigades.
“There were and are certain organizational difficulties. Lack of people, funds, some materials and weapons, proximity to the front line, inertia and delay, bureaucracy, democracy, in the end, the fields are someone else’s. But there is a result. You can touch it, feel it, and eventually climb into it and hide from shelling,” noted the OSUV speaker.
Likhovy claims that active work on the construction of fortifications began in December 2023, and was carried out even before the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdievka, and after the withdrawal they became more active.
In the Donetsk region, new engineering and fortification structures do not look like “walls” or “lines”. This is an extensive system of new platoon strong points (VPs) on the second defensive line, to which infantry units will withdraw if necessary. Units that participated in the order and partly in the construction of these supports.
There are dozens of these new GPs. To different depths of defense lines. They run through hundreds of meters of zigzag trenches - with fire cells on different sides, blocked by cracks, and here and there with armored capsules. These are also caponiers, anti-tank ditches, concrete bunkers, “dragon’s teeth”, other fortifications and obstacles, depending on the proximity to the line of combat.
According to Likhoviya, if the old standards provided for a trench height of 1.5 meters and a width of 0.8 meters, then the new trenches are 2 meters high and 1 meter wide - so that soldiers can move without bending down and have the opportunity to carry them if necessary. along the trench of the wounded on stretchers.
Let us remind you that on the night of February 17, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces left Avdievka. This happened after several months of continuous assaults by the Russian aggressors, who lost tens of thousands of military personnel and hundreds of pieces of equipment in the battles for the city.
Ukrainian defenders successfully repulse occupier attacks west of Avdievka, exploiting the shortcomings of the Russian army.