How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?

[Haiduk]

Several videos with stories of captured near Vuhledar servicemen of 155th naval infantry brigade have appeared. Here is short translation of more intersting. This soldier tells about features of recruitment in this brigade

He is a 2nd class starshyna (equvalent to jr.sergeant in ground forces). He served on large antisubmarine ship "Admiral Tributs" of Pacific Fleet and wanted to transfer to other patrol ship to Kamchatka, but officials put a term for him - to pass a service in 155th brigade in order to his transfer report will be satisfied. He arrived to Ukraine on 19th December with other 100 sailors from different ships, which were given to 155th brigade. When they were flying, officers told them, that next group of reinforcement for 155th brigade, the same sailors from ships,will fly next and will be of 300 men. They were deployed in Volnovakha area. Since battle for Vuhledar started his unit received a task to secure the road, but when they were moving, the order changed and they already have to assault dachas area. They havn't any assault training and any plan how to do this, but anyway attacked dachi. During the fight his unit lost 50 % of personnel only dead. Those, who survive seized the house and sat in the basement five days, where were found by UKR soldiers and captured.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[Beleg85]

Fights near Dvorichna filmed from moskal's drones, unfortunatelly some Ukrainian losses; this are was heavily shelled last days and AFU was forced to give some ground:

7 minutes ago, Haiduk said:

transfer to other patrol ship to Kamchatka

Now that is what chosing wrong career path means.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Beleg85

[The_MonkeyKing]

The first documented use of tank smoke launcher?

Now that I think about it these are even more critical for soviet origin tanks that have to make a 180-turn to bug out.

[womble]

15 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

This is interesting.  That looks to be four PGMs striking one after another.  To me this seems like the spotter made four different target designations, handed them off to the FDC as a single fire mission, and either the battery fired in sequence or one gun fired all four in succession.  Either way, that's something I've not seen before.

Steve

And once again, we see static vehicles failing to respond in any way to incoming fire that shows their location is compromised. Surely they've learned by now that they should get under way as soon as the first PGM comes in?

[Battlefront.com]

5 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

And the USA has no interest in having the EU develop into a competitor, either.

This I would disagree with.  Economically?  For sure the US would rather nobody be a competitor, as would Europe   But the US would not view a functional and assertive European lead NATO as a threat.  It would, instead, view it as a relief.

There's only one thing I have in common with the long standing Isolationist movement in the US... I don't think the US should be forced into the position of either sorting everybody else's messes out or having to suffer for not sorting them out.  I am sure the overwhelming majority of US citizens feel the same way.  Like as in 80% or higher.  Even US politicians would rather bicker and fight over other things than stepping in to attempt to solve every major problem the world faces, and getting the blame for either the results or the methods.

If this doesn't sound correct to you, think of the post Soviet era.  The US tried to let Europe sort out Yugoslavia's breakup and that just did not work.  At all.  The US also let Europe largely decide on the response to Russia's invasion in 2014 and that also did not work out for anybody except the Russians.  Which is why we had the US taking the lead on this war before it even happened AND with the mindset that the some European nations would actively try to not deal with it.  European failures in Libya and Syria also are in the mix too.

There is no technical reason or advantage for the US to have to sort this crap out.  Europe is financially and (generally) militarily capable of doing it, but the structure and will is not there.  I don't see that changing any time soon, but I sure would welcome it if it did.

Steve

[fireship4]

25 minutes ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

The first documented use of tank smoke launcher?

The second by a Russian tank that I remember, in this case combined with engine generated smoke.

Edited February 11, 2023 by fireship4

[Haiduk]

36 minutes ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

The first documented use of tank smoke launcher?

No, there were many such videos. Also about week ago was a video how BMP-3 of 155th brigade move near Vuhledar, using white smoke screen from built-in engine smoke generator 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[The_MonkeyKing]

2 minutes ago, Haiduk said:

No, there were many such videos. Also about week ago was a video how BMP-3 of 155th brigade move near Vuhledar, using white smoke screen from built-in engine smoke generator 

Yes, I have seen lots of smoke generators but zero "pop smoke" smoke launchers.

There was one about a month ago but I was not 100% at that time.

Many analysts have also pointed this out

[Haiduk]

44 minutes ago, Beleg85 said:

and AFU was forced to give some ground:

Mashovets in latest review didn't confirm that, saying several Russian probes with infantry platoon-size troops without vehicles were repelled, but I don't want take away the bread from @Zeleban  

But Mashovets believes Russians launched new offensive in that area, so soon we will see more actions from there as well as from Siversk-Verkhniokamyanske-Bilohorivka area.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[dan/california]

7 hours ago, Zeleban said:

World War II vibes

There is a great video from early on the war of some AFU guys realizing they were digging a trench in a spot the Germans had used eighty years ago. The landforms were theyy same so it was still the rational spot for a trench.

7 hours ago, Zeleban said:

 

Already mentioned, but the fact the Russians don't trust their crews to scatter the second they realize they are on the bulls eye is not the least of he reasons they are losing this war.

4 hours ago, cyrano01 said:

Interesting video and a pretty bold move. When I attempt anything similar, that close to possibly occupied buildings, in CMBS my BMP immediately finds itself on the receving end of an RPG, or something equally unpleasant and it turns into a bad day at the office.

This was really good tactics by the BMP, he was perfectly key holed, at least relative to what he was shooting at.

3 hours ago, Beleg85 said:

Yes, but the problem with unequal partnerships with specialization of duties is they more susceptible to various global "Black Swans", especially of wars breaking out in close neighourhood. They also fuel sentiments in US- isolationists of all kinds may finally take over and push for primitive, mafia-like transactionism in international relations. We have just a probe of it in last years; I am not sure if Americans beside elites collectively even understand that they are superpower (even empire if some people prefer it) and how much world order (and own welfare) depends on it. Perception of populations in such partnerships on both sides is ongoing concern, on European side as well. Definitelly hope for US pivoting into Pacific too much/letting their leadership left in a wardrobe, is one of main points of Kremlin grand-strategy. Offshore power may, or may not be here- but Russia and other actors certainly will. That's why Europe needs to change its attitude regarding close neighbours on more prolific, even despite colonial shadows of some of its members.

Again good example of such prolific behaviour is France-it never left Africa, and its activities are not neocolonialism (despite perceptions of some) but rather minimalist stabilization efforts; one does not need to be superpower to do that. Otherwise we could probably already see several states in Africa being subdued by militant islamism. And we don't want that.

 

Somebody from Georgian Legion tried hard to develop this. But looks cool [one volunteer from IL severla months ago also told about Ukrainian unit using toy cars to lay mines, and even experimenting with contact charges against tanks]

 

The_Capt has nightmares about this being next stage of drone development.

53 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

This is interesting.  That looks to be four PGMs striking one after another.  To me this seems like the spotter made four different target designations, handed them off to the FDC as a single fire mission, and either the battery fired in sequence or one gun fired all four in succession.  Either way, that's something I've not seen before.

Steve

Someone finally got the the coordinate pass thru to work entirely electronically? The drone is literally talking straight to the FCS of a Krab or PZH-2000? 

[Haiduk]

Rare video of Polish loitering munition "Warmate" using at the target on left bank of Dnieper oppose Kherson. But as for me not appropriate if it had HEAT warhead. Many in Ukriane ask why we have some number of special designed kamikadze drones, but on the videos we can see only DIY-kamikadze, but very rare Warmates, Switchblades, RAM IIs and Phoenixes (are they really exist?). And I havn't answer too...

By the way, Russians from 126th coastal brigade blame own commander that they 30th Jan sent soldiers to some stupid mission and all they lost, so their bodies remained on enemy territory and commanders now force them to take them back, but this is suicide. Unknown about what they say, probabaly Russians have sent recon group on one of islands oppose Kherson and they were ambused. In social media wrote about 8 KIA. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[The_Capt]

51 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

This I would disagree with.  Economically?  For sure the US would rather nobody be a competitor, as would Europe   But the US would not view a functional and assertive European lead NATO as a threat.  It would, instead, view it as a relief.

There's only one thing I have in common with the long standing Isolationist movement in the US... I don't think the US should be forced into the position of either sorting everybody else's messes out or having to suffer for not sorting them out.  I am sure the overwhelming majority of US citizens feel the same way.  Like as in 80% or higher.  Even US politicians would rather bicker and fight over other things than stepping in to attempt to solve every major problem the world faces, and getting the blame for either the results or the methods.

If this doesn't sound correct to you, think of the post Soviet era.  The US tried to let Europe sort out Yugoslavia's breakup and that just did not work.  At all.  The US also let Europe largely decide on the response to Russia's invasion in 2014 and that also did not work out for anybody except the Russians.  Which is why we had the US taking the lead on this war before it even happened AND with the mindset that the some European nations would actively try to not deal with it.  European failures in Libya and Syria also are in the mix too.

There is no technical reason or advantage for the US to have to sort this crap out.  Europe is financially and (generally) militarily capable of doing it, but the structure and will is not there.  I don't see that changing any time soon, but I sure would welcome it if it did.

Steve

I think the one thing that a lot of Americans do not understand is that fundamentally being at the top of the heap of a global order means that in order to stay on top you are going to have to "sort out everyone else's messes" or it just comes back to bite you later.  That is because as a global super power everyone else's messes are in fact your messes.  Sucks but it is reality.

A lot of it has to do with economics that frankly I do not understand.  The reality as I understand it is that the US does not really sell anything substantial anymore (at least not compared to what it buys) other than the idea of the USA.  That idea makes the USD the world currency reserve and it underpins a lot of foreign investment into the US - from buying your debt to investing in selling things to you.  The underpinning idea is that the US = safe.  And that safety extends well beyond your own borders. 

I am pretty sure citizens of the Rome had the exact same sentiment - "why do we care what happens in Britannia?  Why are their problems suddenly ours?"  Well the answer is, look in the mirror - you should see an Empire staring back at you and this is what being an Empire means, always has.  The major issue with the US as I can see it, is that the vast majority of its citizenry do not understand this at all.  As you have pointed out repeatedly, a lot of Americans do not even understand their own democracy and government systems, let alone how it links directly to far flung locales.

There have been proponents of the "let it burn and contain" strategy within the US, but I think the risks become to high in a globalized world.  If the US simply stands back and lets things unfold, they can quickly spiral out of control.  Some places like Rwanda just make everyone feel bad, others like the Balkans can see a regional war explode into a larger one and that will definitely hit your bottom line.  We just saw how incredibly fragile and interconnected the world is during COVID, I think the idea of playing hand-off is a particularly bad one given that experience.  Finally, the current strategic reality basically states that if you do not get involved and fix their messes, someone else will.  It is a competitive race right now so any and all options to stand back and let nature take its course are pretty much dried up.  In fact within defence circles is how we can clean up messes while someone else is trying to mess with us.

[Pablius]

Hi, not military related, but here in Argentina we are experiencing a curious side effect of the war, an unusual influx of Russian women coming here to give birth, The Guardian even run a article in January about it:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/03/everyone-is-looking-for-options-russian-women-fly-to-argentina-to-give-birth

Some couples even decide to stay here for various reasons (the political situation in Russia, avoid mobilization, etc.).

Yesterday local authorities busted a criminal network charging thousand of dollars for quick permanent residence obtained by less than legal means lets say (not that obtaining residence here is that hard).

Not everyone wants to stay an enjoy the glorious future of the Russian Empire it seems, even if it means coming here an experience our 100% inflation rate...you`ll never get bored here!

 

[Haiduk]

Some more LostArmor talks. Here a version how was destroyed Russian armored column near Vuhledar, which we can see recently

 

He tells, that Ukrainians let the column to pass along the way, previously cleared from TM-62 mines with tanks, equipped with KMT minesweeprs and then shelled the pass behind column with RAAMS. So Russians turned out in the trap. Attempt to drive back led to explosions by RAAMS, attempts to bypass the way across the field led to blown up by TM-62. 

Ha also adds using of UR-77 mineclearing vehicles not always give proper effecnt, especially in enough strong wind, biasing HE chained charge sometime to 30 degrees. Also he says in five last launches HE charges didn't detonate except of one case, where dotonated only last section. Probably HE was stored unproperly.  

As a possible confiramtion of his words on other Russian source was issued a message with many photos of western FASCAMs. In this message tells that this German and Grench ammo is very dangerous and nobody have to try to clear this mines by shooting at it, because its activated and shot holow-charge stream, which penetrate the tank. 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[danfrodo]

7 hours ago, Zeleban said:

World War II vibes

This really gives me insight to what it's like on a front line trench.  A fire team hanging out, freezing, looking out over fields toward RU lines.  Waiting and worrying.  And freezing.  But at least they have some nice MG42-looking weapons.

7 hours ago, Zeleban said:

 

I was watching this and thinking "too bad they aren't precise enough to hit that bunched line of 4 AFVs -- and then BAAM!  Nice shooting!

[akd]

1 hour ago, Battlefront.com said:

This is interesting.  That looks to be four PGMs striking one after another.  To me this seems like the spotter made four different target designations, handed them off to the FDC as a single fire mission, and either the battery fired in sequence or one gun fired all four in succession.  Either way, that's something I've not seen before.

Steve

First one, at least, has pretty distinctive blast and frag pattern of Excalibur.

[chrisl]

1 hour ago, Battlefront.com said:

This is interesting.  That looks to be four PGMs striking one after another.  To me this seems like the spotter made four different target designations, handed them off to the FDC as a single fire mission, and either the battery fired in sequence or one gun fired all four in succession.  Either way, that's something I've not seen before.

Steve

The time and separation between #2 and #3 look kind of like a correction after #1 and #2.  Could be a single gun firing 1/2, correct then 3/4.

[Zeleban]

5 minutes ago, Pablius said:

Hi, not military related, but here in Argentina we are experiencing a curious side effect of the war, an unusual influx of Russian women coming here to give birth, The Guardian even run a article in January about it:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/03/everyone-is-looking-for-options-russian-women-fly-to-argentina-to-give-birth

Some couples even decide to stay here for various reasons (the political situation in Russia, avoid mobilization, etc.).

Yesterday local authorities busted a criminal network charging thousand of dollars for quick permanent residence obtained by less than legal means lets say (not that obtaining residence here is that hard).

Not everyone wants to stay an enjoy the glorious future of the Russian Empire it seems, even if it means coming here an experience our 100% inflation rate...you`ll never get bored here!

 

Yes, there was information about this in our news too. Many pregnant women from Russia were detained right at the airport.

[danfrodo]

nice summary here today.  open map in new tab and it's really good resolution to see what this person thinks is up.  It's more confirmation bias as he makes the case that RU hasn't advanced as far as has been reported -- but maybe he's being overly optimistic.  We'll see.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/11/2152392/-Ukraine-update-Russia-is-hitting-new-records-for-men-and-equipment-lost-as-repeated-assaults-fail

[chrisl]

22 minutes ago, The_Capt said:

I think the one thing that a lot of Americans do not understand is that fundamentally being at the top of the heap of a global order means that in order to stay on top you are going to have to "sort out everyone else's messes" or it just comes back to bite you later.  That is because as a global super power everyone else's messes are in fact your messes.  Sucks but it is reality.

A lot of it has to do with economics that frankly I do not understand.  The reality as I understand it is that the US does not really sell anything substantial anymore (at least not compared to what it buys) other than the idea of the USA.  That idea makes the USD the world currency reserve and it underpins a lot of foreign investment into the US - from buying your debt to investing in selling things to you.  The underpinning idea is that the US = safe.  And that safety extends well beyond your own borders. 

I am pretty sure citizens of the Rome had the exact same sentiment - "why do we care what happens in Britannia?  Why are their problems suddenly ours?"  Well the answer is, look in the mirror - you should see an Empire staring back at you and this is what being an Empire means, always has.  The major issue with the US as I can see it, is that the vast majority of its citizenry do not understand this at all.  As you have pointed out repeatedly, a lot of Americans do not even understand their own democracy and government systems, let alone how it links directly to far flung locales.

There have been proponents of the "let it burn and contain" strategy within the US, but I think the risks become to high in a globalized world.  If the US simply stands back and lets things unfold, they can quickly spiral out of control.  Some places like Rwanda just make everyone feel bad, others like the Balkans can see a regional war explode into a larger one and that will definitely hit your bottom line.  We just saw how incredibly fragile and interconnected the world is during COVID, I think the idea of playing hand-off is a particularly bad one given that experience.  Finally, the current strategic reality basically states that if you do not get involved and fix their messes, someone else will.  It is a competitive race right now so any and all options to stand back and let nature take its course are pretty much dried up.  In fact within defence circles is how we can clean up messes while someone else is trying to mess with us.

The US doesn't mass produce cheap stuff, but there is still a lot of production in the US, particularly of moderate quantity, higher performance stuff.  If I need to get 5000 precision parts made, it's actually cheaper in the US than anywhere else - shops here will have a moderate number of very expensive, high performance machines that are operated by one or two people who basically program and babysit them.  If I want a few very high quality, at least partially custom, things, it's generally coming from the US or Europe, and even if I were allowed to buy them from Russia or China, it's unlikely that they'd be competitive on performance or cost.  And the US produces enormous amount of information (and not just social media aggregation).  A lot of the equipment and instrumentation that's used in manufacturing around the world depends on stuff made here.

[Haiduk]

Some more info about Vuhledar, in this time about Russian OOB, again from LostArmor (and this confirmed by  one UKR serviceman from that direction)

First of all, last photos and video with destroyed Russian vehicles, mostly T-72B3 and BMPs - this is not 155th naval infantry brigade. This is already reinforcement, which arrived probably from Zaporizhzhia direction - units of 36th and 37th motor-rifle brigades. This shows, despite terrible losses, Russian command has a will to continue offwnsive and achieve own goals for any price like that was recently with Pavlivka. 

So, about OOB.

Commander of operation - lieutenant-general Rustam Muradov, commander of Eastern military district

Right flank: group of 36th CAA: elements of 37th motor-rifle brigade, 5th tank brigade, attached units of 40th naval infantry brigade

Left flank: group of 29th CAA: elemnts of 36th motor-rifle brigade, attached units of 155th naval infantry brigade and DPR special police combined unit "Kaskad" (at least two battalions + UAV unit with Lancets).

Units of 14th Spetsnaz brigade.

Each army group, of course, had own artillery, recons, CBRN units with TOS-1A.

Interesting, that to 36th brigade were attached Tatarian mobiks and volunteer unit "Alga", because own mobiks of 36th brigade still under training and didn't arrive to Ukraine when offensive has started. Also pointed that 36th brigade had weak recon capabilities and lack of drones. 

36th brigade before the war had T-72B3, but they were mostly lost in the battles near Kyiv and Dovhen'ke, so were substituted to T-80BV. 

According to Russian sources exactly because of "Kaskad" experience and combat capabilities, Russian offensive was succesfull in first days on left flank. But 36th brigade advanced in first days on 2 km, but couldn't hold seized positions and fell back. 

Right flank couldn't achieve nothing (probably atatcks from Pavlivka area or sw from Vuhledar) 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Haiduk

[Battlefront.com]

5 hours ago, Zeleban said:

Infantry in CMBS are unusually bold and accurate, in addition, they are distinguished by excellent coordination.

And there is generally more of them and they have supporting arms.  So many of the battles we see play out in drone videos are anything but that.  Very often isolated squad sized units in a see of ruined forests or urban areas.  It's like opening up the Editor in CMBS, putting a BMP-2 and drone for the Ukrainians and a Conscript Squad for the Russians.  From a game standpoint that's not a lot of fun, but it can be done.

Steve

[The_Capt]

13 minutes ago, chrisl said:

The US doesn't mass produce cheap stuff, but there is still a lot of production in the US, particularly of moderate quantity, higher performance stuff.  If I need to get 5000 precision parts made, it's actually cheaper in the US than anywhere else - shops here will have a moderate number of very expensive, high performance machines that are operated by one or two people who basically program and babysit them.  If I want a few very high quality, at least partially custom, things, it's generally coming from the US or Europe, and even if I were allowed to buy them from Russia or China, it's unlikely that they'd be competitive on performance or cost.  And the US produces enormous amount of information (and not just social media aggregation).  A lot of the equipment and instrumentation that's used in manufacturing around the world depends on stuff made here.

https://www.wita.org/ustrade/us-trade-trends/the-us-trade-deficit/

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-trade-deficit-widens-goods-exports-10-month-low-2023-02-07/

That is nearly a trillion dollars.  No argument that US manufactures some critical stuff, but talking pure value the US is vastly consumer nation.  And this matches historical records as well, empires did this all the time.

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187936651630032X#:~:text=Pliny described a considerable financial,destined to India alone!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_economy

The other issue is the US has priced itself out of a lot of growing markets like Africa - the exception being entertainment.

This is what winning looks like.

[Zeleban]

 

New message from Mashovets

 

1. In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy, in order to reach the barrier line of the Oskol River, launched offensive operations in the direction of Dvurechnoye and Gryanikovka, attacking from Liman Pervy and Tavilzhanka, in particular:

- up to 2 assault groups (in general, up to a motorized rifle platoon, without equipment, from the 138th motorized rifle brigade of the 6th CAA) attacked the forward positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Dvurechnoye - Gryanikovka, they were not successful, they retreated.

- an assault detachment (in general, up to a platoon, without equipment, also from the 138th brigade) carried out an offensive in the direction of Liman First - Gryanikovka, also had no success, retreated.

In addition, the enemy has significantly "revived" in the direction of Kuzemovka - Stelmahovka, where over the past 2 days he has been actively conducting reconnaissance in force ... In particular, at least 2 attempts were recorded to advance in the indicated direction with forces of up to 2 platoons motorized riflemen, but without the support of armored vehicles. As a result of the fire defeat, the enemy was forced to retreat to the starting lines.

Obviously, the immediate task of the Russian troops will be 2 villages, which are located on the left bank of the river. Oskol in the Kupyansk direction and continue to be held by the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Gryanikovka and Masyutovka.

It is also likely that the enemy will try to go on the offensive in the direction of Kislovka - Ivanovka and further to Stepnaya Novoselovka, along the P-07 road ... In this case, his immediate goal is to reach the Petropavlovka - Kurilovka line ... that is, the nearest approaches to Kupyansk...

But in my very biased and subjective opinion, the enemy will still try to concentrate his main efforts on the direction to Borovaya. Everything that he now "demonstrates" northwest of Svatovo is most likely an attempt to tie the main tactical reserves of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine operating in the Svatov direction to this area and thus free his hands for a sudden and powerful strike on Borovaya.

On the direction of Kremennaya - Liman, the enemy also quite actively revived ... trying to create favorable conditions for himself for subsequent offensive actions in the direction of Liman, Serebryanka. Here, quite intensively, the enemy involved units of his airborne forces. In particular:

- With two platoons (from the 104th regiment of the 76th air assault division) without the support of armored vehicles, but rather stubbornly attacked the forward positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Ploschanka - Makeevka, but had no success, after a fire defeat, under the cover of their own rare mortar and artillery the fire retreated to the exit line. During the day, the attack was repeated at least 3 times... with the same result

 

- 2 more enemy assault groups with a total composition up to the air assault company (also from the 104th airborne infantry regiment of the 76th airborne infantry division) tried to attack in the direction of Kremennaya - Serebryanka. And again, without the support of armored vehicles, through covert rendezvous and a sudden attack at close range, it did not work out. After early detection of his advance, the enemy was forced to retreat to the starting line under conditions of intense fire damage.

 

[Zeleban]

 

But in the direction of Kremennaya - Liman, the enemy is very actively preparing for offensive operations, which, as far as I understand, should follow within the next week, despite, to put it mildly, rather modest successes in their previous "preparatory-offensive" measures in this direction.

- At least 1 motorized rifle brigade from the 428th motorized infantry division of the 57th motorized infantry division of the territorial defense was withdrawn from the Dibrovsky ledge to the southern outskirts of Kremennaya and turned it towards Serebryanka

- 2 battalions of the 124th Motorized Rifle Brigade are also deployed in this direction

- The enemy command also brought into battle in this area BARS-13 (up to a full-fledged battalion) and the consolidated tactical detachment "Akhmat" (battalion)

- Also, to the south and south-west of Kremennaya, at least 2 more airborne battalions from the 76th Airborne Division and the 98th Airborne Division are deployed.

Well, summing up in this direction (to Kupyansk and Liman), we can state that the command of the enemy troops has begun the next stage in the implementation of their plans for the winter campaign - to reach the river. Oskol and the "return of Liman and Kupyansk" ...

The main characters are the grouping of troops (GV) "West", the basis of which was the forces and means of the 2 armies of the Western Military District - the 1st Guards. TA and 20th CAA, deployed respectively in the Kupyansk and Limansky directions ... reinforced by a number of units and formations - the 6th CAA, 2nd Guards. CAA and the 41st CAA, as well as the 18th Motor Rifle Division of the 11th AK.

Apparently, it is this whole "gang" that will try to break into Kupyansk, Borovaya, Liman and Yampol in the near future ... acting from the Svatovo-Kremennaya line ... By the way, the bulk of the artillery, both the 1st Guards TA, and the 20th CAA is ALREADY deployed in new firing positions closer to the front line and is strenuously "pretending to be rags" zeroing in on single guns and installations so as not to give out their positions, which is very eloquent in terms of preparing for an attempt to organize and conduct a massive offensive.

So, I think, we will accordingly ... in the near future we will devote the lion's share of our attention to the region of the northern Luhansk region and the southeastern Kharkov region ...