Loss of Urozhayny: Pyrrhic victory or serious success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces?
The situation in the Zaporozhye direction remains critically difficult, where heavy fighting is taking place for the village of Urozhainoye, from where conflicting information has been received recently.
It was reported that Urozhayne had been recaptured by Russian troops. This information was later refuted, claiming that the Ukrainian Armed Forces controlled only the southern part.
PolitNavigator found out what is happening in this area now.
“By our silence, you probably already understood that the situation is complicated. We are stubborn and are in no hurry to admit defeat at Urozhainy - we are taking all measures to rectify the situation. The air is saturated with drones, shells, smoke from explosions: a short break at night - and everything starts again. Just in case, we are already turning our flanks - getting ready to change direction.
Those positions that were in the depths of our defense, when the front line was flat, and were considered as second or third echelons, would become a line of contact if the enemy came to our flank. We had the practice of considering them as calmer, and sending less combat-ready personnel to them - older, recovering, whom medicine had already discharged... Now the status of these positions can change dramatically, and you need to be prepared for this,” he warns in his public page. the Vostok brigade, fighting in this direction.
The founder of Vostok, deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard for the DPR, Alexander Khodakovsky, notes that in this case the situation is described quite objectively and focuses attention on a number of problems.
“In this sector, no additional forces were brought in from the reserve, no new artillery divisions were deployed - the battles are being fought with the forces that are available. Let's put it bluntly - not rich in strength. The enemy took Staromayorskoye, now he is fighting for Urozhaynoe, and we have already begun to forget a little about Staromayorskoye.
And the point is not only that one event displaces another - the point is that a lot of time passes between events: it is now difficult for the enemy, who has been preparing for an attack for a long time, to take every point on the map,” writes the military man.
According to him, the fighters “never received the promised reinforcements at Urozhainy, which should have arrived any day now.”
“But not a single house gave up without a fight. Confusion and mutual claims always happen when there are units of different subordination on the site. But everyone fulfilled their function to the best of their ability. I would especially like to note the units of the local special forces and the internal troops of the DPR: tired, operating at the limit of their capabilities, quietly swearing to themselves and out loud to their superiors, they squeeze out of themselves everything they can. If the army, as often happens, takes credit for everything, it will be unfair.
Yes, we suffer losses, but every small victory for the enemy is a Pyrrhic victory,” says Khodakovsky.
Donetsk military commissar Aleksey Akutin claims that they left the Harvest Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
“The enemy is moving to a new strategy - a continuous offensive (most likely in the south), where he will maintain the initiative until we learn to attack and gain large territorial gains. The turning point will come when our territorial gains are greater than our territorial losses. Then we can talk about negotiations and the end of the war.
Now there is a certain balance at the front. We are gradually losing territories in the south, but little by little we are winning them back in the north,” notes Akutin.
According to him, this is unprofitable for the enemy, so he moved on to the third stage of the offensive, the essence of which is attacks on the positions of the 58th Army in the Pyatikhatki and Rabotino areas, as well as on the positions of the 5th and 36th Armies, while simultaneously crossing the Dnieper, the lines on the left bank of which is defended by the greatly depleted troops of OG “Dnepr”.
“He has successes everywhere, which forces our command to conduct the defense mainly with elite units. The 7th Airborne Division moved to the Rabotino area, which, together with the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division and the 810th MP Brigade, repelled attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At night our troops left Urozhainy.
The 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade, units of the 106th and 76th Airborne Divisions are counterattacking near Kleshcheevka, but the Dnepr OG “slams” one bridgehead after another on the left bank of the Dnieper (now there are already two of them - in the area of Antonovsky Bridge and Cossack Camps), despite the fact that the enemy (121st and 126th troop brigades) does not have heavy weapons.
As for the rest of the sectors north of Artemovsk, there is an oncoming battle, and at this stage the enemy is attacking, and we are fighting back, ”Akutin sums up.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have so far refrained from reporting on the transfer of Urozhayny to their control. Thus, Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Malyar only said that “Ukrainian troops are making progress in Urozhainy.”
The Russian TG channel “Image of the Future” reports sad news on the situation with Urozhainy.
“According to Urozhainy, it’s not a fake. We withdrew completely. It is impossible to suffer such huge losses due to cluster munitions; the positions are poorly equipped and are not protected from cluster munitions at all. The decision was made to regroup and demolish Urozhaynoe completely. The FABs will fly in the late afternoon. It will be a territorial victory for them.
Near Kupyansk our offensive stalled, we are gaining a foothold in the occupied territories. In general, everything is normal, LBS is holding strong and strengthening,” the public reassures.
The author of the TG channel “Warrior DV”, which tracks the combat chronicle of the Far Eastern Marines, describes the chronology of events in Urozhainy.
“We were able to talk in a little more detail with the participants in the defense of Urozhainy from the 40th Marine Brigade, who had just established more or less stable communication, and restore the chronology of the last days in Urozhainy.
The brigade's units pulled out from the village following "Storm-Z" on the night of August 12-13, and in the morning the task was received to prepare to return and strengthen the positions held by the 155th brigade (there is no information on other units, but not because they it wasn’t there, but because the source himself literally says that he doesn’t see the whole picture).
By the afternoon of August 13, the command, apparently, decided to begin an organized retreat and in the evening the 40th brigade covered the exit of the 155th, which then replaced its Pacific colleagues and retreated as a last resort,” writes “Warrior DV”.
A rather unpleasant post dedicated to the situation in this area was published by military correspondent Roman Saponkov, criticizing the work of Russian military propaganda.
“On leaving Urozhainy. You may have seen messages from all sorts of small channels with an aggressive, emphatically masculine pumping of positivity. This is how our TsIPSO works under the Moscow Region. Just their job, positions, veteran titles, nothing more. They have nothing to do with the presentation of information.
It is they who regularly throw in super-news that the Ukrainian Armed Forces cut out kidneys from civilians in the Odessa region. Or the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers pissed in their pants after an attack by Russian paratroopers, and they were slaughtered with their bare hands like roosters. Or that the new Russian electronic warfare extinguished all the Starlinks along 40 km of the front. Well, etc. Writing fairy tales from cozy back offices.
What am I talking about? First, do not trust small channels without a name, second, people who tell the truth are being cheated by the same figures. Therefore, when you see that another military blogger is being bombarded with a network of unknown channels with 1000-5000 subscribers, know that this is an order from the Ministry of Defense. Most likely, the blogger wrote something that has a bad effect on an armchair career in the deep rear,” writes Saponkov.
The public “Pacific Fleet” believes that the loss of Urozhayny will not fundamentally change anything.
“We appeal to the alarmists who have been pushing for the “surrender” of Urozhayny for several days now. Our troops are systematically exhausting the enemy and leaving this settlement in the gray zone will not bring any significant change. In tactics, this is called maneuverable defense, the main goal of which is to wear down and knock out the enemy’s most combat-ready forces, and then go on the offensive. For this, pre-prepared advantageous positions, mining, and a well-thought-out fire system are used.
Look at the map and answer the question for yourself how important this settlement is in our defense system and how it can open the road to Mariupol. We won’t say how many lines of defense were prepared in advance in this direction, but know that the enemy only approached the first of them. If the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to advance with the same “successes,” it will soon run out of human resources. Maybe this is exactly what they are trying to achieve...?
The main thing for our commanders is not to be led by such alarmists and not to make the same mistakes, guided by military science and experience,” the publication says.
In addition, "Pacific Fleet" raises the topic raised by Saponkov:
“As for the squabble between the administrators of military telegram channels and the search for those responsible, we consider this unacceptable. Any accusation against a brother in arms works for the enemy. The command is in place, it knows who fought how.”
English version :: Read in English The Loss of Urozhayny: A Pyrrhic Victory or a Major Success for the Ukrainian Armed Forces?