The Russians began to storm Ugledar and the battle for this settlement could “determine the further course of the war in the south.”
In addition to Bakhmut, where some of the bloodiest battles have been going on for several months, the Russians, with new forces, began to try to break through the defenses of Vugledar.
The day before, Russian military correspondents boasted that the occupiers allegedly had some kind of “advance” in the direction of the city, and the leader of the “DNR” Denis Pushilin stated that the Russian army allegedly “took new positions” on the outskirts of Vuhledar.
The Ukrainian military and British intelligence allege that the Russians, as always, exaggerate their achievements, but note that the enemy is really trying to break through the defenses of Vuhledar and capture it.
Assault by marines
Units of motorized rifle troops and marines of Russia are trying to advance in the area of Ugledar. The invaders are trying to achieve intermediate success here and capture the city in order to break through the defenses of the Ukrainian troops and move on, the speaker of the Eastern Group of Forces Serhiy Cherevaty said on January 27 on the air of the national telethon.
“There are fierce battles going on there… Our task is to prevent them from making a breakthrough, to inflict maximum losses on them,” Cherevaty said.
According to him, in the past 24 hours alone, the enemy carried out 322 shelling and 58 clashes. The loss of personnel of the invaders amounted to 109 people killed and 188 – wounded. Four tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, three cannons and three Orlan-10 drones were also destroyed.
“Therefore, the information that is published in the pro-Russian Telegram channels is significantly exaggerated and does not correspond to reality,” Cherevaty stressed.
His words are supported by the British Ministry of Defense. Foreign intelligence admits the possibility that Russian sources are deliberately spreading disinformation in an attempt to show that the Russian operation is “gaining momentum.”
“The course of the war is being determined”
The first to announce a new assault on Ugledar was journalist Yuri Butusov. According to him, the city is of key importance for the Russian army, since its capture will significantly improve the strategic position of Russian soldiers in the Donbass and provide an opportunity to deepen the defense.
According to Butusov, Ugledar is considered a convenient frontier due to geographical features. The settlement is located at a height, while the invaders attack from the lowlands, which allows them to inflict regular defeats.
“The battle for Vuhledar will determine the entire course of the further war in southern Ukraine in 2023,” the journalist wrote on Facebook.
Butusov noted that the Russian command set the goal of its campaign for this year to capture the entire territory of Donbass or to push our forces away from the Crimean corridor.
“To capture Vuhledar, the Russians have concentrated their best troops – brigades of marines and airborne troops, stocks of ammunition,” the journalist said.
“Meat grinder for sailors”
“It has never been easy in Vuhledar, as in any other sector along the line of contact. And in the context of describing the current situation, we should recall what many have forgotten, and therefore spread mass panic in networks when they should keep their cool. An attempt to capture Vuhledar has already was,” said Alexander Kovalenko, coordinator of the Information Resistance group.
The expert recalled that in the first days of November 2022, Russian troops, having collected more or less completed five armored personnel carriers, were already advancing to storm Ugledar, which they hastened to call an “epic battle.” But this “epic battle” was limited to the village of Pavlovka.
“Having sent five armored personnel carriers that had been assembled with difficulty into a meat grinder and cut their combat capability by half or even more, the invaders were able to reach the outskirts of Pavlovka, while on November 11, and then on November 20 they loudly announced that the village was completely under their control. Twice. But there where twice, there and three times? And now, from December 2 to 3, the artillery of the Russian Federation began to shell Pavlovka. Strange, why shell a village that is under your control? And twice. In general, this is a small digression into the recent past, in order to to understand what is happening now under Vuhledar,” he wrote.
According to Kovalenko, it took the Russian army almost two months to restore the November losses of its units, so that these “fresh forces” would again be sent to Ugledar. But this time, as the expert said, Russian troops are also trying to bypass the city from the western direction, and the current composition is different from last year’s throw of the Russian military. According to him, the infantry component prevails, the regular equipment of the units is absent, according to the standards, but there is artillery.
“It seems that 40 and 155 are used by the command of the ROV (Russian occupation troops – ed.) in the format of partially mobilized, and this is how they will try to capture Ugledar,” Kovalenko believes.
In this context, the decisive factor, according to the expert, may be: firstly, the enemy has enough ammo for artillery to support assault operations, and secondly, the presence of a sufficient amount of artillery and ammo for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“It won’t be easy, but Vuhledar will grind the sailors again. Believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the expert summed up.
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