Despite huge numbers of casualties, Russian leader believes he is slowly winning war – so he can afford to string talks out
Despite huge numbers of casualties, Russian leader believes he is slowly winning war – so he can afford to string talks out
For Ukraine, the break in the frontline is unfortunately timed. Lightly armed Russian saboteur groups – three on one count – cut though Ukrainian positions in the Donbas countryside east of the key junction at Dobropillia. Though one group has been eliminated, as of Tuesday two were thought to remain at large – and although their numbers are small for now, perhaps 20 to 30, the breach is significant.
At the beginning of the year it was safe to visit Dobropillia, which had become a bustling market centre busy with soldiers and locals, nearly 15 miles north of the frontline in Pokrovsk. But since then the town, where once busy supply roads from Pokrovsk to Kramatorsk split, has come under sustained attack with glide bombs, while FPV (first person view) drones strike targets on the move.
It is part of an increasingly coordinated battle strategy by the invaders. Experts say Russia has become more effective at targeting Ukrainian drone teams in the field and forces on the move. Even before the weekend, the southerly T0514 supply road to Kramatorsk was at risk of attack, while a Russian military blogger described “the systematic elimination” of Ukrainian crews.
At the same time, Ukraine’s forces appear increasingly stretched. Critics such as Bohdan Krotevych, a former chief of staff at the Azov brigade, say too much attention has been focused on infantry counterstrikes in Pokrovsk – “a soap bubble that will soon burst” – and not enough on augmenting defences to hold existing lines.
Ukraine’s military, at the urging of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sent in Azov to try to eliminate the infiltrators.
