Ukrainian media reconstructed the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Debaltsevo that ended in disaster
A group of fighters from the 54th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was surrounded during an unsuccessful attempt to attack the positions of the forces of the unrecognized DPR near Debaltseve. сообщает Odessa resource “Timer”, citing data received from sources both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the armed forces of the DPR
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“Based on the analysis of the information they provided, the following picture of events emerges.
On the evening of December 18, soldiers of the 54th brigade received orders to go on the offensive and knock out the enemy from positions located south of the government-held village of Luganskoye, Donetsk region. It was supposed to advance along the so-called. Gryazevsky rates are a chain of reservoirs running along the Debaltsevo-Artyomovsk highway from Lugansk to the village of Kalinovka.
About three companies took part in the offensive with the support of infantry fighting vehicles. The attack was preceded by active artillery preparation.
According to the operation plan, the fighters had to overcome the distance to the enemy positions on the armor of the infantry fighting vehicle, and at this stage resistance was not expected due to the fact that the forces of the unrecognized DPR were to be stunned by artillery barrage.
The attackers actually managed to occupy the first lines of positions of the DPR forces almost without losses, but then they encountered fierce resistance. A significant part of the armored vehicles were destroyed by targeted fire from grenade launchers, and DPR artillery opened heavy fire. The situation was complicated by the fact that the soldiers of the 54th brigade were advancing in open terrain, which was also quite densely mined.
Soon after this, the forces of the unrecognized republic launched a counterattack with battalion-sized forces. As a result of the counterattack, part of the advancing forces of the 54th brigade was thrown back, and a group of fighters that had broken through to positions in the Markov Yar area (a body of water north of Kalinovka) found themselves surrounded.
General direction of attack. Markov Yar pond is circled in red
On December 19, the Ukrainian Armed Forces made several attempts to attack, either in order to achieve their goals, or in order to free their comrades who had fallen into the trap. All these attempts were defeated by the defense of the “republican” forces. All this was accompanied by very significant losses, which, according to our source in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, on December 19 amounted to about 25 people killed and wounded, in particular, in one of the advancing companies at the end of the day only six people remained in the ranks.
Currently, fighting between Kalinovka and Lugansk continues. According to one information, the mini-cauldron in Markov Yar has already been destroyed, and currently the DPR forces are trying, in turn, to oust the bloodless forces of government troops from their positions. According to other sources, we are talking about repelling new attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to break through to the encircled group.
It is interesting that our sources in the government forces point to the suspicious awareness of the DPR forces about the details of the planned operation: in their opinion, it was thanks to this awareness that the forces of the unrecognized republic were able to retreat from the attacked positions and concentrate for a counterattack, thus reducing their losses to a minimum and achieving very heavy losses for government troops. Our sources disagree on whether we are talking about ordinary sloppiness or conscious betrayal,” writes Timer.
A similar picture is painted by the Kiev online newspaper “Strana”, which spoke with soldiers of the 54th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who in general confirmedthat the offensive was launched by Ukrainian troops.
“In the morning, the combined tactical group of the 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, consisting of two tank platoons with an infantry company, carried out an attack in the direction of height 220. The fact is that this stronghold of the militants was pushed towards our positions by almost a kilometer. Adjacent to the strong point on the side is a neutral area – a forest plantation. As a result of this disadvantageous location, the militants have the opportunity to regularly fire at our positions in Lugansk with almost direct fire. And from the forest plantation, militants repeatedly fired mortars at Svetlodarsk and the Ugledarskaya thermal power plant.
Therefore, the tactical operation to level the front was carried out under the direct command of brigade commander Vladimir Gorbatyuk and was coordinated with the ATO headquarters. In the morning, a tactical group was deployed in the direction of the “Height 220” strong point. As a result, the fortification was taken in one rush, practically without resistance, but our tactical group did not have time to gain a foothold there - heavy enemy artillery fire was opened from the flanks,” officer of the 54th brigade Yuri M. told the publication on the condition of anonymity.
According to him, the Ukrainian tactical group suffered the main losses as a result of mortar shelling already at the final stage of the operation.
“According to the plan, we were supposed to occupy a strong point, and then clear the flanks - check the neutral position - the forest planting. But it turned out that the landing site had been pre-equipped with a position of several heavy machine guns and a battery of mortars. As a result, our attacking company came under crossfire and was forced to leave the strong point after several hours of defense. But it was too late - we lost nine fighters with the “two hundredths”, and several dozen with the “three hundredths”. In addition, the militants began an artillery attack on our positions in Lugansk and Svetlodarsk, which lasted almost a day. Our artillery responded to the militants, but a few hours later - they were afraid to “pour” on the positions that our guys had previously wrested from the militants,” the officer said.
In addition, the brigade's fighters note the extreme lack of professionalism of their command when planning the operation.
“Until Friday, a relative status quo and “calm in the ATO format” remained in this area - every night there were regular artillery exchanges between ours and the militants. The strong point “Height 220” did not allow brigade commander Gorbatyuk to live in peace - the front line really resembles a concave arc towards Svetlodarsk and reservoirs. In the center of the corner is height 220. In principle, this strong point did not interfere with anyone - the main shelling on our positions was carried out on the flanks - from the forest.
But the brigade commander decided to straighten the front line and gave the command to attack. The operation was planned illiterately - without taking into account the enemy’s artillery and mortar positions that were located on the flanks. As a result of the operation, we “liberated” an extra one and a half kilometers of bare steppe and the highway, capturing a strong point. They were freed at the cost of a dozen dead and three dozen wounded. As a result, this stronghold had to be abandoned - there is no one on it now. Because the height was under heavy fire. The goal of the operation was not achieved,” Vladimir, an officer of the 54th brigade, told Strana.
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