Has the Ukrainian Armed Forces offensive begun? What is known so far
Yesterday, a number of Russian military Telegram channels reported alarming news: Ukrainian armed forces have launched an offensive and managed to take some positions.
However, already in the evening, as reported by the PolitNavigator correspondent , the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that there was no reason for concern.
“Statements disseminated by individual telegram channels about “defense breakthroughs” taking place in various sections of the line of combat contact do not correspond to reality,” the Russian defense ministry said.
It is alleged that as of the end of yesterday, no active combat was conducted in the Kupyansky direction, and two attacks by enemy company tactical groups were repelled in Krasnolimansky.
In addition, “in the Donetsk direction, three enemy attempts to conduct reconnaissance in force were thwarted, and eight attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the positions of Russian troops were successfully repelled.”
“Currently [22.00 yesterday] there is a battle going on to repel an attack by a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit in the direction of the village of Maloliinovka. Army and attack aviation, as well as artillery, are involved. The enemy is suffering significant losses in manpower and equipment. There are no active operations in the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions.
The general situation in the area of the special military operation is under control,” the Russian Ministry of Defense added.
The military-analytical public page “Rybar” clarified where Malolinovka is located.
“According to old maps of the General Staff, Maloilinovka is located 1 km northeast of Yagodnoye on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut. From the outskirts of Bogdanovka, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ breakthrough occurred according to the Wagner PMC, to Malo-Ilyinovka is over 6 km. Thus, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed, at a minimum, the fact of active hostilities and a strike on the group’s flank in the place that the military correspondents of the Wagner PMC spoke about,” notes Rybar.
In turn, military correspondent Yuri Kotenok claims that the breakthrough on the western bank of the Seversky Donets Canal occurred because, contrary to cheerful reports from above, there was no military guard in that place.
“On May 9, Victory Day, if anything, at 5.50 two tanks arrived and, one at a time, began to hit the “Dry Pool” position with 1 km direct fire. Accordingly, the infantry made a retreat. The crests raised the quadric and saw that the positions had been abandoned. They brought forward the M113 armored personnel carrier and dropped off the infantry—about 8 people. The infantry began to roll into position.
The brigade commander tried to stop the breakthrough by moving forward a reserve - a tank company. She walked for half a day, and out of 6 tanks, only one arrived! And when he arrived, it turned out that he had no high-explosive fragmentation shells, only cumulative and sub-caliber ones! They removed two companies from the second echelon and transferred them to the breakthrough area, but they did not go - the crests were constantly working with artillery.
About shell hunger (all according to General Staff standards). But how to fight if the brigade’s artillery has only 0,2 artillery units. This is 1/5th part, if that. That's how we got it! During the breakthrough, the crests' Bradleys were accidentally shot down. But how to fight if the brigade’s PPU (forward control point) is 40 km from the contact line? How? This is a full barrel.
The next day, General Sychevoy arrived at the breakthrough site, 300 meters were recaptured from the sodomites, the rest was not,” writes the military correspondent.
Among the reasons for the local advance of the enemy, he names the following factors:
"1. Lies by officials at the battalion commander level.
2. Lack of ownership of the situation.
3. Cowardice of units (specifically, they know which and where) and, above all, the battalion commander and commander.
4. Lack of aerial reconnaissance.
5. Unpreparedness, unequipped positions and lack of anti-tank weapons.
6. Unpreparedness of reserves and their helplessness.
7. The absence of minefields in front of the positions.
8. Lack of stable communication.
9. Intrigues with PMCs, which the day before left the western bank of the canal in the right adjacent defense sector, but did not say anything about it.”
In addition, yesterday information appeared about battles near Gorlovka, in particular near the village of Mayorsk.
“It is reported that the enemy managed to occupy two strong points during the day, but Donbass units quickly responded to the attempt to advance and did not allow the neo-Nazis to gain a thorough foothold. Fierce fighting lasted all day.
As a result, the soldiers of the 1st Army Corps managed to regain the initiative; the Ukrainian Armed Forces were forced to retreat to their old lines, taking with them a significant number of killed and wounded. The breakout attempt was unsuccessful. However, no one has any illusions here; Donbass is preparing to fend off new attacks from the enemy,” writes the Wargonzo telegram channel.
At the same time, the battles for the liberation of the remaining part of Artemovsk continue.
“The zone of control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the western quarters of Bakhmut has shrunk by another 220 meters: fighting is taking place in one of the three main enemy fortified areas, in the Nest.” All three fortified areas are shown on the map.
In general, local front collapses and the powerful media campaign organized by Prigozhin against the Russian Ministry of Defense will most likely have to be responded to. Perhaps in the coming days we will see intensified actions of the Russian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut direction,” Rybar does not rule out.
The Ukrainian military public DeepState, which compiles maps, writes:
The enemy lost their positions at Stupochek and Ivanovsky. The loss of positions was also recorded on the territory of Belogorovka (D). Fighting continues near Ivanovsky, Khromovy and in the city of Bakhmut itself.”
However, the authors of the public immediately warn Ukrainians against inflated expectations.
“We continue to record the loss of positions by the enemy in the Bakhmut sector. For the first time in a long time, blue appeared on the map. But there is no need to create high expectations. These actions are more tactical in nature than operational-strategic,” DeepState emphasizes.
The difficult situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine directly in Artemovsk is also recognized by the TV channel “Bakhmutsky Demon”, which is hosted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“It’s hard in the city, there are advantages on the flanks, but the battle is far from won, I would say we only have optimism, there’s no need to be too happy in the rear, there’s still a lot of work,” the military man writes.
But the author of the Russian telegram channel “NeFormat” writes that yesterday he was “once again struck by the mass hysteria of society.
“And society is no longer able to analyze anything. Although there is a lot of information available. So, to understand the scale of what the so-called “military correspondents” are inflating for you. It's easy to check what I'm writing now. The populated area of Popasnaya was liberated in June 2022. During this time, the front line changed by 24 km in a bird's eye view, and by 31 km along the road. Exactly this distance from Popasnaya to Bakhmut (Artemovsk).
The so-called great offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the fall allowed them to push our troops back to a depth of 50 km, after which they simply could not do anything further. To fully understand the depth of fear and panic that ordinary armchair drunks now calling themselves “military correspondents” are sowing, plot a route from Orekhov to Genichesk on a map. And think with your own head how much effort it will take,” writes NeFormat.
Military observer Yuri Podolyaka shares a similar opinion, noting that yesterday, along with local attempts to break through Russian positions, “in the afternoon there was a powerful information onslaught from the enemy.”
“And this was only reconnaissance in force on the part of the “tsipsoshniks,” believe me. And it’s a shame that many channels fell for this. Moreover, everyone gets caught doing the same thing. On the hype. “CIPS that have fallen into the clutches” simply want to be the first in everything and... are afraid of missing out on the news feed. That's how they get caught.
I think many of you already know that “columns of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Kharkov” and “an impending large landing near Kherson” were fake news. At the same time, it is hot and heavy near Artemovsk. Here, following the results of yesterday’s battles, there is still an attempt to loosen the pincers around the city in order to restore supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in its western quarters. The enemy partially succeeded,” writes Podolyaka.
He added that in the information space the war is no less active than at the front.
“And I will ask my colleagues to be vigilant and not to chase news in all the trash heaps in the desire not to miss it.” Don’t help our enemies,” Podolyak urged.
An expert at the Center for Military-Political Journalism, Boris Rozhin, draws attention to the fact that “the operational reserves of the parties are not involved” and also warns about the activity of Ukrainian information specialists.
“I remind you once again that during the start of a real enemy counter-offensive, a serious disinformation and cyber attack will be launched, which should sow panic and increase the disorganization of government structures,” Rozhin emphasizes.
Has the Ukrainian Armed Forces Offensive Begun? What is Known So Far?