Loss of faces: why AFU does not retreat from Avdiivka
Ukrainian formations are ready to hold on to the territory of the DPR, not paying attention to the number of dead
In the Donetsk area, our troops are conducting a successful offensive, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. On March 16 alone
, the VFU in this direction lost almost 300 militants and 10 pieces of equipment, including tanks, MLRS and self-propelled guns. In total, since the beginning of the month, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed more than 3,000 Ukrainian servicemen here. Experts note that in recent days, Russian forces have stepped up attacks in the Avdiivka area, where they are now finishing off the Ukrainian fortified area. The losses of the enemy are increasing due to the fact that he holds on to the city, not paying attention to the number of dead. Correspondents of "Izvestia" visited the artillery unit and saw how they support the infantry advancing in the direction of Donetsk with fire.
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During the active operations of the units of the Southern Group, air strikes and artillery fire in the Donetsk direction, up to 275 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed per day. In these battles, the enemy lost two tanks, two armored vehicles, two pickup trucks, a Uragan MLRS combat vehicle, a D-20 howitzer, a Gvozdika self-propelled gun, and a US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled gun, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on March 16.
Since the beginning of March, according to the Russian military department, the AFU has lost more than 3,240 militants in this direction.
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The situation in the Donetsk direction is now developing in our favor, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia.
- The same Avdiivka for the Ukrainian forces does not have great value, as a logistical or some other point - everything is destroyed there, - the expert emphasized. - In the battles for her, as well as for Artemovsk and Marinka, they suffer unreasonably high losses. The remnants of regular servicemen and, most importantly, officers are being sought in them. However, they see the point in it. They are afraid that the front will move, our offensive will begin and they will not hold it. Therefore, the enemy is trying to hold these points so that in the future they will be stumbling blocks for the Russian troops, which hold back the advance and draw our forces onto themselves. They are unlikely to have other such fortified areas with concrete bunkers, warehouses and developed minefields. They have been building for years.
Oleksiy Leonkov believes that in this way the Ukrainian armed formations are gaining time for the long-announced spring general offensive.
“They are preparing for it”, he says. - The recently delivered NATO equipment at the front was not seen, it is being cherished, accumulated in the rear for more important and decisive, as it seems to them, actions. True, they exchange hours, minutes and days for hundreds and thousands of lives of their servicemen.
The expert noted that in the current situation we need to be careful in order to repel the blow in time.
“Next, we will move on to fulfilling our plans,” Alexei Leonkov noted. “ We will move west, freeing the Russian regions and expanding the security zone.