In the Summer of 2023, Ukraine’s counteroffensive ran head long into the Russian “Surovikin” defensive line on the sandy plains of Southern Zaporizhia. The much ballyhooed drive to the strategic city of Melitopol and on to the Black Sea managed only to breach the first line of the multi-layered Russian defenses, eventually foundering on the southern outskirts of Robotyne. Ukraine’s losses in this effort were tremendous. Numbered among the casualties of that effort was the military career of the then Ukrainian Army CinC … the much beloved General Valerii “Yoda” Zaluzhnyi.
In the aftermath Russia has managed to claw back much of the land Ukraine regained in 2023 and is now threatening places like Orikiv and Mala Tokmachka, the jump off point for Ukraine’s own counteroffensive. But life is very interesting in its many varied manifestations of “turn about is fair play”. Now it would appear the shoe is on the other foot … ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE, in perhaps a reversal of fortunes, is giving Russia a taste of Ukraine's own defensive "Zaporizhian Line"… here and no farther.
To be clear, the Russians are giving it the old school try but it is also becoming increasingly evident that the Russian attempt to not only take over the rest of Zaporizhia oblast but also reach the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk oblasts administrative borders is running out of gas and operating on fumes. At best observers now see it as a feint or an ill-disguised effort to tie down Ukrainian resources while Russia builds up its reserves to take a gigantic roll of the dice at the so-called Donetsk “Fortress Belt” anchored by the major industrial city of Kostiantynivka aka “the other Pokrovsk”. That northeastern Donetsk line of cities include Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, Horlivka and Sloviansk. Along with nearby Pokrovsk, they form the industrial heartland of Donetsk Oblast which in turn was historically considered the very heart of Soviet industrial might. Donetsk is that central to Soviet-era mythos. There are extant Soviet posters glorifying Donetsk as such.· One can therefore understand why Putin and his odious regime have decided to take what would appear to be their last great offensive punch at this part of Ukraine. The coming Russian Summer 2025 offensive aimed at taking northeastern Donetsk has all the makings of a most desperate as well as a most sanguinary affair. Ukraine and Europe know it’s coming. They will be ready.
In the meantime Ukraine aims to stop Russia’s push against their historical and ancestral heartland … the home of the Zaporozhian Cossacks … represented by the still extant Zaporozhian Sich(fort) on Khortytsia island in the middle of the Dnipro River. Indeed the Ukrainian army grouping facing the Russians in Zaporizhia is named the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Group and is led by perhaps Ukraine’s most decorated current field commander, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, in addition to his main job as Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces(General Syrskyi’s old job). That is how determined Ukraine is at stopping Russia in Zaporizhia.
Whatever it is the Ukrainians are doing seems to be working. To wit:
Russia forced into another operational pause on Zaporizhzhia front — Defense Express
Defense Express military expert Ivan Kyrychevskyi says that despite numerous attempts, Russian forces are unable to break through Ukraine's defenses in the Zaporizhzhia direction
He made these comments on Espreso TV.
"Russian troops are unlikely to abandon their goal of advancing toward Zaporizhzhia if that’s what they’ve set out to do. However, the fact that the Russians were able to make significant gains in the southern direction early in the full-scale war can only be explained by the lack of sufficient troops and fortifications on our side at the time," Kyrychevskyi remarked.(emphasis mine)
According to the military expert, once Ukraine set up proper troops and defenses in the Zaporizhzhia direction, it became much harder for Russian forces to move forward.
"The same factors that hindered our success in the south in 2023 — wide open terrain and the enemy’s fortified defenses — are now working against the Russians. When we have fortified positions, they’re forced to advance across open ground.(emphasis mine).
global.espreso.tv/...
This war is not going to get any easier for either side but it is clear that ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE is capable and able to stand its ground and with some much needed help from her friends is now in a much better position to go mano a mano with Putin and his revanchist regime in Russia.
SLAVA UKRAINI ! PEREMOHA(Victory) !!
