Russian special military operation in Ukraine #35

What is more important, seems that Ukrs are throwing every single unit they have to close the gap in Soledar.
Azov remains, Kraken, all the terobrona they have left, and the mercs they can assemble.
Some of those already feel the vibe and go missing on the route - two Brits reported gone today ...
Today a chief of staff of the special units of the border guards was reported KIA.
Border guards.
Chief of staff.
Cooks go next.
And drummers from the orchestra shortly after.

But M113s are objectively crap regardless, I dare say. There are other western APCs that are much better. The USSR and later Russian ones are much better too. Just objectively.

The fact that Germans can't find 40 Marders to fulfill the political declaration is much more fun than M113 - at least the latest exists

Ukraine loses Soledar and Artemovsk, by Evgeny Krutikov for VZGLYAD. 01.09.2023.

Rejecting the Christmas truce, Kyiv received painful breakthroughs in the defense line in the Donbass. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have achieved decisive successes in Soledar and Artemovsk, important strategic points that the Ukrainian command is trying to keep at any cost, including for political reasons.


As of January 9, fighting is already underway in the center of Soledar and in the area of ​​five-story buildings in the north-east of the city. Two railway stations, a number of salt mines, residential buildings in the south and southeast along Oktyabrskaya Street came under the control of the RF Armed Forces. The village of Bakhmutskoye in the southwest of Soledar was also cleared. The units advancing from the east, from the side of the village of Yakovlevka, went to the area behind the Transfiguration Church, and the assault detachments went to Yurchina Gora, cutting off the section of the route to Blagodatny, that is, cutting off the supply of the group in the strategically important Seversk.

According to the VZGLYAD newspaper, by noon fierce battles began for the administration building of Soledar and for the neighboring House of Culture, in other words, for the city center. Satellite images show a large fire near the central square. The defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has become fragmented, it no longer has a single command and is divided into separate groups.


The day before, the withdrawal of the 128th separate mountain assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began, which quickly turned into a flight. The 61st brigade also began to leave positions, despite attempts to urgently reinforce it with reserve battalions. As a result, she left the position, which led to the flight of the 10th mountain assault brigade, as well as the 17th tank brigade - it was she who represented the last operational reserve that was supposed to hold Soledar and plug holes in the defense.

However, ideologically motivated units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the special forces "Karpaty" and separate units of mountain assault brigades, tried to hold observation posts in five-story buildings on Karpinskogo Street, so it was premature to talk about the occupation of Soledar. But on Monday, the Ukrainian units (or rather, their remnants) retreated to the north-west of the city to the Artemsoli area and the Sol railway station.


Theoretically, this can be called the third line of defense, which boils down to an attempt to stay on the outskirts until the arrival of the reinforcements announced by Zelensky  (it is assumed that we are talking about the newly formed “numbered” brigades from those mobilized in the Chernihiv region, which have been undergoing combat coordination at the Goncharovsky training ground for the last month).

The second task of the remnants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city is to prevent Russian troops from quickly reaching the north of Soledar and cutting off the road to Seversk. In fact, it has already failed, since the crossroads of the road to Seversk (the corner of Oktyabrskaya and Pionerskaya streets) has already been placed under fire control by the RF Armed Forces.

The situation near Artemovsk also changed dramatically (in the Ukrainian manner - Bakhmut). By the morning of January 9, units of the RF Armed Forces drove out the combined detachments of the 60th and 17th Ombre from the village of Podgorodnee, that is, they opened up the possibility of encircling Artemovsk from the north. In the south and southeast of the city, the fortifications in the villages of Opytnoe and Kleshcheevka were being destroyed and the territory around the gypsum plant (KNAUF) on Patrice Lumumba Street was being cleared.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly transferred reinforcements to Artemovsk from among the reserves of the 60th brigade, as well as two armored groups of the 28th mechanized brigade, separate companies of special forces and theterodefense. Presumably, the nearest reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be the 58th brigade and the 93rd brigade from the same Chernihiv region. A couple of numbered brigades, which are hastily transferred from the Zaporozhye direction to Bakhmut, will not have time to get there.


The main form of defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Soledar and Artemovsk was indiscriminate shelling by the artillery battalion of the 60th brigade and the 17th tank brigade, which are located outside the contact combat zone. Five Su-25s and two MiG-29s were also connected from the airfield in Mirgorod.

The amusing fortifications built on the central streets of Soledar in the form of traditional anti-tank gouges made of rails welded to each other turned out to be of no use to anyone.


According to a number of data, the active transfer of reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Soledar and Artemovsk will be able to begin no earlier than January 20. Consequently, they will hold a new line of defense, to the west of the broken system Artemovsk - Soledar - Seversk.

In the middle of the day on January 9, reports began to come in that the assault detachments began cleaning up Experienced south of Artemovsk and entered the villages of Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka. The last two are small, even by local standards, settlements along the railway, but they are tactically important positions, as they close the encirclement of Artemovsk from the north, cut off the local Ukrainian garrison from Soledar. When this success is consolidated, the entire space between Artemovsk and Soledar will come under the control of the RF Armed Forces.

Cleansing of small villages to the south and southwest of Artemovsk threatens the supply of the local garrison. The new line of defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be built, as in Soledar, along the western outskirts of the city, and further along the settlement of Chasov Yar, which over the past few months has been turned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the main stronghold of the entire Ukrainian group, as well as into a distribution point for arriving reserves .


Chasov Yar is a good position; quarries of refractory clay are historically located in this town (the factories themselves have not been working for a long time, but they are a “industrial complex” convenient for defense). In addition, right in front of Chasovy Yar, the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal flows, which even in cold weather (on Monday in the Donbass minus 12-15 Celsius) is a defensive position.

The loss of the entire defensive line Artemovsk-Soledar-Seversk threatens the Armed Forces of Ukraine with far-reaching consequences.


Firstly, the pressure on Kremennaya and Lysichansk will stop, the entire flank of the Ukrainian front in this direction will sag.


Secondly, the creation of a new line of defense (tentatively around Chasov Yar) will require special efforts from Kyiv. Already, about six numbered brigades that made up the garrisons of Artemovsk and Soledar are practically defeated, they need to be rotated and understaffed with new recruits.

Over the past weeks, these garrisons have been kept at the expense of "veteran" units, including mountain assault, highly motivated "Svidomo" and special forces. The new numbered brigades, made up entirely of ideologically motivated sergeants and officers from among veterans mobilized with little participation, show little effectiveness.


At the moment, the defense line of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been broken, and the Ukrainian command will no longer be able to return the situation. However, it is too early to talk about the full occupation of Artemovsk - Kyiv will hold this settlement to the last for ideological reasons.

Even now, its further defense is meaningless, but there are no signs of the withdrawal of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the city. Moreover, there is evidence that in the center of Artemovsk, fortifications are being created along the lines of Soledar, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to insist on strengthening the grouping in the city, including at the expense of units from the southern direction.

On the other hand, there are reports that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are increasing their presence in Vuhledar, which may also mean preparations for a counteroffensive in the southern direction. So far, the pace of advancement of the RF Armed Forces in Soledar and around Artemovsk is quite high, but unpleasant surprises are still possible.

https://vz.ru/society/2023/1/9/1194217.html

SBU tried to make propaganda movie. 

So while the Abrams, in American hands, is pound for pound best in the world,

To heavy. To big. No auto-loader. Shitty engine. Inferior firepower, except when using radioactive ammo.
The thing was designed for showrooms and not real wars.
In a real war you don´t have perfect conditions and can rely on a 50 men engineer team arriving just in
time to clean the air filters or haul the tank back to the next harbor for a trip to the tank factory if it needs
a repair.

Twitter news:
Our sources from near Bakhmut report: employees of the SBU were transferred to the group near Bakhmut, with the task of stopping alarmism and desertion in the ranks of the ZSU, associated with heavy losses near Bakhmut.