Russia Offensive Zaporozhye Fast Gains, Ukraine Operational Crisis Bakhmut; German No To Tanks (Alexander Mercouris)

Ukrainian defenses in the south are now depleted because they were sent to hold the line in Bakhmut. Moreover, Ukrainian lines in general are greatly weakened. It is likely that Ukrainian forces will not hold out for much longer. However, the Russian forces may be content with slower advances because the Ukrainians will concentrate their forces to oppose them, which would then be hit by artillery - a meat grinder, or funnel, of death.

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The Ukrainian army, egged on by its U.S. controllers, had put most of its resource into the static defense of the Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) - Soledar sector of the eastern front. An insane number of Ukrainian brigades, though many partially depleted, were concentrated on that 50-kilometer-long front. This left other sectors nearly empty of Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian forces in the north and south are in the same position Russian troops had been in when the Ukrainian army last year launched a blitz attack in the Kharkiv region. The Russian screening force of some 2,000 border guards and federal police retreated and used its artillery to destroy the oncoming Ukrainian forces. The attack ran out of power and came to a halt after progressing some 70 kilometers on a rather large front. But Ukraine no longer has, unlike the Russians at that time, the artillery that is needed to stop a larger thrust.

The big Ukrainian concentration in Bakhmut is now in an operational encirclement. The Russian forces have progressed north and south of the city and their artillery can easily control the western exit roads of Bakhmut. This a Verdun like situation. Russian artillery is by far numerical superior and can slaughter the Ukrainian troops at will. Even the U.S. military is now suggesting that Ukraine should give up on that city. Should the government in Kiev agree to that it will be a retreat under fire with likely high casualties. Not retreating though will make things even worse.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, January 23, 2023.]