By most estimates it seems that more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops have died in this city alone over the past 8 months. One year ago in history on this date, Mariupol, the birthplace of Azov Nazism, was liberated as well. @shrike502@Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml it seems that Prigozhin’s random diatribes about “running out of ammo” turned out to be some wild psyop after all, I wonder what was happening
Wonder if things will just freeze up now for the forseeable future. This was the one place that had some actual, regular developments and movement.
Think of it as a medieval army that loses a castle and now has to fight from barns and fields. Wagner + other RU forces will recuperate and deal with the current Ukrainian offensive, but after that we can probably expect RU advances towards Slavyansk and Kramatorsk at a relatively fast pace.
Sure, but that’s already the case in most parts along the frontline, doesn’t mean there’s any more movement there. Which makes sense, because that entire part of Ukraine is mined to hell.
Severodonetsk didn’t lead to a fast push to Bakhmut and Seversk either, that took months and Seversk still hasn’t been fully reached today. For a push to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk you also need to deal with Lyman and that whole northern front - which has seen heavy fighting, but no movement for months.
Fast pushes might happen, but I don’t think it’s a given considering how the past year has played out.
Not like blitzkrieg, but the Ukrainians will be hard-pressed to seriously hold any of these territories, unlike Bakhmut, where they stayed and bled for months.
I mean the next defence line, at least to me, looks just as formidable. Toretsk - Konstantinovka - Druzhkivka - Kramatorsk - Slavyansk with the settlements inbetween them seems like one interconnected urban fortress ring with each point as large as Bakhmut. Can’t imagine them giving up any of them easily when they’ve clung on to every little village as much as they can.
There will not be a battle like Bakhmut until either Zaporozhye or Kramatorsk/Slaviansk. Also noteworthy is that a moderate obstacle may be presented by Ukrainian forest belts in the region (especially near Ivanovske), which could be hard to clear. I never said that the “fast push” would last till Khmelnitsky, I was referring to the space between Artemovsk and Kramatorsk