Russian special military operation in Ukraine #36

Serbian volunteers

Scott Ritter

Leaving Sewastopol

Pipeline again destroyed in Europe. Any guess who did it ?

PMCs and the army tested a new scheme for storming cities in Soledar, by Daria Volkova, Evgeny Posdnyakov for VZGLYAD, 01.13.2023.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted the serious role of Wagner PMC during the battles for the liberation of Soledar. The department reported that PMC fighters directly stormed the city blocks of the city, while regular forces blocked the city from two directions, crossed the transfer of enemy reserves there and provided fire support for the attack with aircraft and artillery. Where can this new tactic be applied in the future?

The offensive, which ended with the defeat of the Ukrainian military in Soledar and the capture of this city, was carried out by a diverse group of Russian troops. The task of storming the city blocks occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine was successfully solved by the actions of the volunteers of the assault detachments of the Wagner PMC. This was announced on Friday by the Russian Defense Ministry. In a message on the Telegram channel of the defense department, the actions of the Wagner fighters were called courageous and selfless.

From this message it follows: a heterogeneous grouping, which included both the "Wagnerites" and the fighters of the Russian Armed Forces, acted according to a single plan, which included the solution of several combat missions. Among them: the blockade of Soledar from the north and south, the isolation of the fighting area in the city, the blocking of the transfer of reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from neighboring areas and the prevention of the exit of the Ukrainian military from the city. Also, the troops supported the advancing assault and army aviation, rocket and artillery strikes on enemy positions.

Recall that on Wednesday the founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the  establishment  of control over Soledar. It was noted that the Armed Forces  of Ukraine lost  200 people while trying to counterattack the city.

The liberation of the city was completed by Thursday, the Ministry of Defense stated . The department emphasized that the occupation of Soledar is of great importance for the continuation of a successful offensive in the DPR. In particular, it opens up the possibility of cutting off the supply routes of Ukrainian troops in Artemovsk, located to the southwest, and then blocking and taking into the cauldron the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine remaining in this city.

As a military expert from the LPR, Colonel Vitaly Kiselev, told TASS , the assault units successfully knocked out soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from apartments in a residential area in Soledar, which were putting up fierce resistance. According to Colonel Kiselyov, among the Ukrainian prisoners the fighters of the 77th Separate Airmobile Brigade, an elite unit, predominate. Apparently, British mercenaries who were killed in Soledar served as its curators.

As the VZGLYAD newspaper noted earlier , after the liberation of Soledar, Russian troops can be expected to move towards the city of Chasov Yar, located southwest of Soledar (20 km in a straight line) and west of Artemovsk. It could be assumed that the next target after Artemovsk should be the urban agglomeration of Slavyansk - Kramatorsk - Druzhkovka - Konstantinovka. But first it is necessary to destroy the line of defense from Seversk to Artemovsk.

In any case, when advancing in such a heavily urbanized region as the Donbass, regular Russian troops, as well as the Wagnerites, will have to repeatedly fight in urban conditions.

“In the situation with Soledar, we have witnessed a new type of city assault.

The city was blocked from the south and north by the Russian paratrooper units of the Ministry of Defense in close cooperation with the Wagner PMC groups. On the ground, they were also assisted by the artillery of the Ministry of Defense. From the air, aviation also worked on targets, including assault ones, ”a military expert, captain of the 1st rank, Vasily Dandykin, told the VZGLYAD newspaper.

According to him, the American command saw the effectiveness of such work by a bunch of PMCs and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and decided not to set up the so-called “Mozart Group” against them in Soledar, a private paramilitary structure that operated in Ukraine last year. “But all our assault groups still have hard work to do in the well-known Soledar multi-kilometer branched tunnels, so it’s too early to celebrate a full-fledged victory,” the source added.

“Apparently, in order to further develop the experience gained during the storming of Soledar, to improve the interaction of military personnel, “Wagnerites” with armored vehicles, moral and material motivation, as well as volunteer detachments like “Bars”, the head of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Valery was placed directly in charge of the SVO Gerasimov," Dandykin suggested.

Of course, it is problematic to liberate a more or less large settlement with the help of one Wagner, says military expert Vladislav Shurygin. PMC Wagner is a very compact organization. It does not have a large number, so we can talk about this company only as an executor of tasks in a specific area. For example, there may be a distribution of responsibility: for example, Soledar and Artemovsk take Wagner, somewhere they are supported by the army, and somewhere only the RF Armed Forces are involved", Shurygin believes.

So, we recall that units of the ground forces, the marines of the Black Sea Fleet (the participation of the 810th Guards Brigade of Marines was reported), the Chechen special forces supervised by Adam Delimkhanov, and the 1st Corps of the People's Militia of the DPR, including the battalion, participated in the liberation of Mariupol Sparta".

“The idea that all cities can be taken exclusively by the Wagner PMC is vicious and incorrect. The scale is not the same. And it’s not right to make only stormtroopers out of the members of the campaign,” Shurygin said. He believes that "if the capture of the city is not on the agenda, then the Wagnerians can not be used," since "a good soldier must be able to carry out an extensive list of tasks."

At the same time, during the liberation of Soledar, it was really possible to observe the coordinated actions of regular units and PMCs, experts say. “PMC is a commercial organization that fulfills a certain order or plan. That is, the company does not act on its own, everything is coordinated during operational planning. The direction, the perimeter, the required number of armored vehicles and aviation are determined, and so on,” points out retired colonel, military expert Anatoly Matviychuk.

“We can assume that during the assault on Soledar, the Russian Armed Forces provided the Wagnerites with a clear sky and cut off the perimeter, and the “assault squads” of PMCs were already taking the land. De jure, on the battlefield, PMC fighters fall under the command of army commanders to complete tasks. In fact, this work is built a little differently, the Wagnerites have their own commanders, but in any case everything is consistent with the actions of the RF Armed Forces,” the source said.

In addition, there are still clear dividing lines on the battlefield so that our forces do not come under friendly fire, Matviychuk pointed out. At the same time, it was the effective interaction of PMCs and the regular army that made it possible to quickly and clearly solve the tasks set and occupy the city, ”he believes.

“If we talk about the advantages of a private military company in an armed conflict, it is worth noting that the military of such organizations is motivated more financially than ideologically. In addition, the most severe discipline, responsibility and mutual responsibility usually operate within PMCs. All this allows you to achieve your goals faster and more efficiently,” the expert sums up.

https://vz.ru/society/2023/1/13/1194810.html

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