Russia has continued to make rapid advances in eastern Ukraine toward the key city of Pokrovsk, sparking public criticism of the Ukrainian military leadership and raising questions about Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to launch a bold incursion into the Russian Kursk region.
For months, Russian forces have been attempting to seize Pokrovsk, a strategically important mining town with a prewar population of about 60,000, but their advance has gained considerable momentum in recent weeks.
Deep State, a Ukrainian group close to Ukraine’s defence ministry that tracks frontline activities, reported that Russian forces on Friday were less than 10km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Pokrovsk, where local officials have ordered a mass evacuation.
Yeah honestly I don’t really understand why Ukraine diverted forces to Kursk. They were dug into strong positions in Donetsk… Positions they’ve since had to give up as the Russian advance picks up pace.
Maybe Syrskyi saw the writing on the wall and went for a hail mary?
Commentators I’ve seen blame the lack of defence on incompetent commanders that aren’t reporting losses, lack of construction equipment for preparing fallback lines and lack of communication between units. There are apparently many cases of electronic warfare units jamming Ukrainian drones because they don’t know what the drone unit is doing. In short: doesn’t sound like a problem that can be solved by just adding more bodies.
Disclaimer: fog of war, I’m reporting on what people have said about what people have said, this may not be accurate (but what source is perfectly accurate in the middle of a war?).
Media Bias/Fact Check - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Media Bias/Fact Check:
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceThe Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Guardian:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this source“Hannibal’s advances in Italy prompt public criticism of Scipio’s Africa push”
Only that time more than half the cartaginian army was about to travel to Italy to follow Hannibal. If Scipios didn’t crush them there, the world would be a very different one today.
Hmmm
This is a weird framing. The story’s not wrong, I am sure, but it’s just sort of askew.
I will make a maybe unwarranted prediction that I will find some other curious opinions being voiced by the specific journalist who wrote this story.
Brb
Edit: I am wrong. They’re just reporting from inside Ukraine stuff that is happening and so this is a relevant story.
Yeah, there are a number of folks looking at this from the military side I’ve seen saying that they believe it to be better to be defending rather than attacking. Generally, a defender has the advantage, and Ukraine has pretty well-fortified stuff in the area, so they can leverage that advantage.
The Kursk offensive is embarrassing to Russia, but as far as I know, it doesn’t have strategic implications. Russia capturing Pokrovsk would make defending some other areas in Ukraine difficult.
That being said, there are a lot of aspects to the conflict, so…shrugs
Ukraine have destroyed three bridges in Kursk, which will affect Russia’s ability to get supplies to their invading forces, but they’re also rivers where it’s fairly trivial to set up temporary bridges (unless they are destroyed by drones).
