Ukrainian Lines Collapsing in Donetz and Retreating in Kursk

Peloni. In the video below, Dima describes the breakout on the Pokrovsk front to be nothing short of miraculous as the Ukrainian forces are retreating at record speed.  Watch the first fifteen minutes for the latest movement in the Pokrovsk area as well as the political concerns being raised over Ukriane’s faltering front lines.

Click on Photo for Video

Peloni

Can Kasapoglu from the Hudson Institute explains that Ukraine in the areas around Pokrovsk as making ‘strategic withdraw[als]”,  while the Kagan Institute of War recently claimed Russia is making only ‘tactical advances’.  Ignoring the fun of teasing apart the distinctions between these statements, Russia is making significant gains in its approach to the vital transit hub of Pokrovsk, known as “the gateway to Donetsk”.  The consequence of losing this hub, which has stood for a decade, could cost Ukraine the entire of central and southern Donetsk.

Relatedly, The Ukrainian Commander in Chief, Oleksandr Sirsky, has recently explained that Ukraine transferred many thousands of troops and unknown numbers of tanks, support vehicles and drones to support the Kursk invasion.  Sirsky further explained that Ukraine’s objective in Kursk was to act as a diversion, hoping to draw Russian troops from Pokrovosk.  The Ukrainian diversion, however, provided no incentive for Russia to abandon the potential realization of extending its grasp over the strategically situated Porkrovosk.  The result of these choices has led to Ukraine making rapid retreats as Russia descends on the gateway to Donetsk and possibly the capture of the entire Donetsk Oblast.

Dima, from the military channel, describes the collapsing line as nothing less than miraculous, as he reports never having seen the Ukrainians retreat with as much speed as they are currently abandoning significant positions on the approach to Pokrovsk.  He offers his own possible theories about what might have fueled this ‘miraculous’ event, but ignoring these, it must be noted that the Russian forward movements over the past day have been very real and very significant.  As Novohrodivka fell in four days, other areas are falling after only hours.

Meanwhile, in recent days, after losing control over some previously held Russian territory, Ukrainian forces have drawn Ukrainian advances to a standstill in Kursk, after Ukraine recently lost control of some of its previously captured Russian territory as it would appear that the tide has turned.  Reports estimate Ukrainian losses in Kursk to be some 6,600 killed and wounded soldiers, along with 73 tanks and hundreds of other support vehicles, as Sirsky reports that more Ukrainian forces are continuing to be drawn from Ukraine to support their Russian investment, this despite the already collapsing defense lines in Donetsk.

As Ukraine continues to transfer men to Kursk and rekindle the lost momentum, Russia’s momentum in Donetsk is accelerating, and fast.  Ukraine is on the verge of losing Pokrovosk, which could come at the cost of the entire Donetsk province.  Zelensky’s former close ally and confident, Oleksiy Arestovych, describes the situation developing in Potrovosk to be an “operational crisis”, as he also criticized the Ukrainian leadership for exhibiting an inability to either respond to the emerging catastrophe in Potrovosk, or address the public concerns over the potential loss of that fortress.

And yesterday, Kasapoglu reports the 90th Russian tank division has already entered the outskirts of Pokrovsk.

 

August 29, 2024 | 7 Comments »

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7 Comments / 7 Comments

  1. Ukraine has removed the 72nd Mech brigade from Vuhledar! This means Ukraine will not fight to hold Vuhledar!

    Multiple Ukrainian units all along the line of scrimmage are facing potential encirclement by the advancing Russian forces, while, as I noted in the article above, Ukraine’s advances have ended with them holding nothing so vital as they are abandoning in Ukraine.

  2. @Michael
    Pokrovosk is doomed. The Ukrainian collapse over the past month in that theater, has really been focused over the past two weeks is, as I explained in the article and to which Dennis somewhat agrees, unprecedented. When Pokrovosk falls, the Ukrainian forces in Donetz will lose their supply lines and the effect will be devastating for Ukraine and for what?. The Kursk operation was a devastatingly bad choice for Ukraine, as its control over Kursk has absolutely no strategic value to remotely compare to the loss of Pokrovosk and Donetz. And it should be noted that the Ukrainian hold in Kursk continues to require it to cannibalize assets from the Ukraine to hold Russian territory which can have no impact on the outcome of the war, something which Sirsky himself has confirmed. I don’t see the Kursk adventure lasting, but even if it does, Ukraine has opened the door for Ukraine to move on adjacent Oblasts while consolidating Donetz, which was one of the primary Russian territorial goals of the war. So, while ‘difficult’ is the term chosen by Sirsky, I would suggest that it is quite a euphemism in describing what Ukraine has done to itself with this propaganda stunt.

  3. Michael

    I doubt it Putin can denazify it. The Nazis will retreat to a rump and hold on by brutality.

    Putin will thus create a new border.

    There with the neocons in power behind Harris is nuclear war threat against Russia and whole world.

    Russia will add Odessa because the Odessa Fire is their October 7.

  4. Ukraine was as far as I read not set up by the Russian Bolsheviks at all which I presumed. It was set up on the shakiest of grounds by the equivalent of Kerensky. Kerensky visited there.

    In Russia 1917 or rather October 1917 was never a coup but a revolution by the vast masses of the workers leading the formless peasants.

    Ukraine was contested mightily by the Bolsheviks. From the word go. (Soviet in Kharkov)

    The Bolsheviks emerged as representing the oppressed of the world. Fact.

    Naturally the priests and rabbis had a tizzy got

    Workers in Ireland came out in support. Well before 1921! Before the Declaration of Independence.

    Putin has his own version but this is the reality.

  5. I checked a more reliable source, looking for confirmation. No “miracle”, on either side. Denys notes a Russian breakthrough in the Pokorovsk direction, and continuing encirclement of the Russian defenders in Kursk.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2QnWKERYzI

    Peter Zeihan confirms the above: encirclement in Kursk, breakthrough in Pokorovsk, and massive Russian infrastructure losses in Kertch and deep into Russia. Massive losses of men on both sides, but more on the Russian side. Peter foresees more movement in the next few months, than in the past few years. We’ll see.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjZRGf_23_s

    Denys Davydov adds confirmation of the loss by Ukraine of a F-16 fighter and its Ukrainian pilot.