CNN
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Russian flags were raised at several locations in the eastern Donetsk town of Avdiivka, hours after Ukrainian forces broke a hasty retreat from the ruins of the town they had defended for a decade.
But Ukraine's military is also under pressure at several other points along the front, which snakes around 1,000 kilometers (1,000 kilometers) from the Russian border in the north to the Black Sea.
The Russian military may have sensed the enemy's weakness. Ukraine's highly capable troops are exhausted after two years of fighting. A new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Shirschiy, was appointed. And the Ukrainian military lacks artillery shells and is vulnerable to relentless air strikes.
The goal of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the military is to take back all illegally occupied territory, but Ukrainians are currently struggling to prevent Russia from adding to the roughly 18% of Ukrainian territory it already holds. .
President Vladimir Putin's declared goal is to capture all of the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, but few believe he would stay there if given further opportunities.
The Russians began decisive action to capture Avdiivka in October. But they are also carrying out attacks near Bakhmut and Mariinka (also in Donetsk), and towards Kupiansk in the north.
On the Southern Front in Zaporizhia, Russian and Ukrainian sources said Russia was building a large-scale buildup in the area where Ukrainians tried to launch a counteroffensive last summer. Some analysts say 50,000 troops have been assembled.
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Daily updates from the Ukrainian military provide a glimpse of the firepower Russian forces are currently displaying. According to the General Staff, there were 82 battles on Saturday alone. “The enemy launched a total of 13 missiles and 104 air strikes, and fired 169 rounds from multiple rocket launch systems at Ukrainian military positions and residential areas.”
The update is peppered with words like “repulsion” and “restraint” as Ukrainian military units in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions cling to defensive positions.
Chairman of the Ground Forces Reserve Council of Ukraine Ivan Tymochko said on Saturday: “Despite our attention being focused on Avdiivka, in fact very heavy fighting continues in the Lyman-Kupiansk area.” Ta. [and] Near Bahmut. The enemy is rapidly concentrating troops in the Robotine area, another flashpoint area on the Southern Front.
Ukrainian forces are establishing new defensive positions on high ground north of Avdiivka. Analysts do not expect Russia to immediately attack these fronts as troops rallied, but it is possible it could seize outlying villages.
Avdiivka was destroyed by months of Russian artillery and air strikes, leaving Ukrainian forces with essentially no cover. The same Russian approach of erasing everything in the way finally worked in the cities of Severodonetsk and Liszchansk in 2022.
One local soldier, Ehor Firsov, told Ukrainian television on Saturday: [small] Would you use your FPV drone to counter a huge 500 kg or 1 ton bomb that hits and destroys buildings? The enemy gained the upper hand and marched through the city, destroying everything. ”
Anatoly Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian military personnel build a temporary fortress near Avdiivka.
Having captured what remains of the town, Russian forces may release some troops to step up attacks on the nearby Marinka ruins. In recent days they have advanced south of the town, and the Ukrainian defenses in the direction of Vledal are now under intense pressure. Ukraine's military reported on Sunday that Russian forces had “made 23 attempts to penetrate our defenses” in the previous day.
The Russian target to the west and northwest of Bakhmut is the small town of Chasiv Yar, located on a vantage point within firing range of the towns of Kramatorsk and Kostyantiniuvka. Last week, Ilya Evrash, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military in the region, said Russian troops fired more than 600 rounds at Ukrainian positions on one day.
“We need more shells, thousands and thousands of shells, especially 155 mm shells,” Evrash said. “The enemy is trying to attack from the flanks. They are using small attack groups because heavy equipment cannot move across the field due to icy conditions and impassable roads.”
Ukraine still holds almost half of the Donetsk region, and its occupation has been a consistent goal of President Vladimir Putin's invasions. It took the Russians several months to capture just 30 square kilometers of Avdiivka and its surrounding area.
Diego Herrera Calcedo/Anadolu/Getty Images
Ukraine still wants to regain territory lost to Russia but is under pressure across the front.
In the south, Russia's first exploration of the Ukrainian front has already begun. According to the Ukrainian military, three Russian tanks were destroyed and several soldiers were killed Saturday in Russian attacks that “involved 30 pieces of equipment and a significant number of enemy personnel” in more than a dozen attempts to break through the Ukrainian front. Ten soldiers were killed.
“There were no losses of positions in the Zaporizhzhia sector. The enemy suffered heavy losses. We are holding off the enemy's attack.”
However, Russian military bloggers have a different view, saying that the Russian 42nd and 76th divisions have advanced about 2 kilometers (2 km) near the village of Robotin, which was occupied by Ukrainian forces last summer, and have attacked Ukrainian defensive positions with artillery and air strikes. He said it was crushed.
Here, as elsewhere, Russia has significantly increased its use of 500-kilogram glide bombs from aircraft that Ukraine's front-line forces have little protection against.
One Russian blogger, “Archangel Special Forces Z,'' claimed, “Airborne troops are preparing a powerful artillery attack in the direction of Zaporizhzhia!'' Attack operations are already underway in some areas. ”
The Russian military has suffered an unusual number of casualties as the outlook continues to be grim for the front-line Ukrainian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that seven Russians were killed for every Ukrainian soldier lost in Avdiivka.
The Ukrainian military command claimed that between January 1 and February 15, it had caused “losses of 20,018 personnel, 199 tanks, and 481 armored fighting vehicles” in the region from Avdiivka to western Zaporizhzhia.
Although they cannot confirm it, U.S. officials have previously said that Russian forces suffered heavy losses due to sloppy tactics.
But the Russian way of war has long been to send thousands more into battle, regardless of losses, and their troop pool is much larger than that of the Ukrainians.
Currently, Ukraine is running low on arms and ammunition because the U.S. Congress failed to pass a $60 billion aid package, but Russia also feels it has a huge advantage in artillery, armor, and air power. There is.
