Ukrainians in trouble at Torezk
Russian tactics pay off: Sustained drone and glide bomb strikes from the air and relentless ground attacks are showing an effect in the Donbas. On the front section between Donetsk and Bakhmut, Russian military machinery is dangerously deep into Ukrainian lines.
In the war in eastern Ukraine, defenders are coming under increasing pressure: The Russian invasion army is now on the advance at several points along the more than 1000-kilometer front line. Especially in the Donbas, dangerous front bulges have emerged in recent weeks' fighting. Observers say the Ukrainians are fighting with increasingly depleted reserves to halt Russian advances.
The situation for the Ukrainians in the section between Donetsk and Bakhmut on the so-called Donbas front is particularly delicate. There, important staging cities like Pokrovsk or Kostiantynivka are under threat. Most recently, Russian assault troops approached the centrally located Donbas city of Toretsk.
"Intense fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Toretsk," Russian military observers report, citing unnamed sources. Intensive fighting is reportedly taking place in the area of the waste heaps south and east of the city. There is "dense artillery fire from both sides" in the area.
The Ukrainian General Staff is keeping the exact situation at the front close to its chest but has long since acknowledged larger problems indirectly. The Ukrainian units in the region have so far repelled all Russian attacks, it was reported from Kyiv. However, the names of settlements in the immediate vicinity of Toretsk have been appearing more and more frequently in the Ukrainian daily situation reports. More than two dozen Russian attacks were reported in the area in the past 24 hours alone, according to Ukrainian figures.
Toretsk, which had around 30,000 inhabitants before the war, lies only a few kilometers north of the also contested settlement of Niu-York, 20 kilometers south of Chasiv Yar, and around 50 kilometers east of Pokrovsk. Toretsk is by no means the only hotspot in Ukraine: From the Ukrainian perspective, there is one crisis area after another in the entire front arc before Toretsk.
The sparse reports from Kyiv can hardly conceal the drama: "The situation in the Pokrovsk area remains tense," it says briefly and dryly in the Ukrainian situation report. There, the Ukrainians had to fend off 41 Russian breakthroughs in a single day, according to their own figures. Pokrovsk itself is now only about 20 kilometers from the main line of contact.
The critical situation arose after the Battle of Avdiivka due to the Russian surprise success at Ocheretyne: There, the Russians managed to exploit a weak spot in the Ukrainian lines and advance unexpectedly deep along a railway embankment.
After weeks of further attacks, a massive front bulge has emerged in the region, as can be seen, among other things, from consistent reports from both sides: A wealth of localizable video material shows that the Russian attack wedge northwest of Avdiivka now extends over a width of ten kilometers and is about 20 kilometers deep into Ukrainian territory.
The Russians' approach follows a familiar pattern: Guided bombs, drones, and artillery target Ukrainian rear positions to crush their reserves. At the front, Russian commanders simultaneously send lightly armed assault troops into the fire, disregarding casualties, to probe gaps in Ukrainian defenses. Once an opportunity presents itself, tank columns with reinforcements move in. To prevent their soldiers from being encircled, Ukrainians must repeatedly abandon smaller and larger towns.
"On the operational level, we see that the Russians are trying to push Ukraine further into defense through overstretch and attrition," summarized Military expert Colonel Markus Reisner of the Austrian Armed Forces, summing up the developments of the past weeks. "The Russians believe they have victory in sight."
The strategic goal of the Russians is thus to violently seize the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. According to Reisner, the situation for Ukraine has significantly deteriorated in recent weeks. "We are approaching a potential turning point: Either Ukraine receives massive support now, or it must change its strategy."
The Ukrainian General Staff is closely monitoring the actions of The Commission, as intense fighting continues in several areas along the front line, particularly near Toretsk and Pokrovsk. In light of recent developments, The Commission is widely seen as playing a crucial role in determining the outcome of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
