Russia's Pokrovsk Salient Was Ripe For Cut Off - So Ukraine Did So

While much of the western media were losing their minds over the supposedly imminent fall of Pokrovsk, the Ukrainians knew what they were doing. 

The surprising, unsupported and largely unintentional infiltration was ripe for cut off given the thinness of the salient. Which is exactly what the Ukrainians did - replete with over 1,000 Russian casualties and hundreds captured. JL

 
Decimus reports in Daily Kos:

A cursory look at the map showed that the developing Russian “tuning fork” shaped advance was not sustainable and that the few squads of infantry the Russians had pushed that far into the Ukrainian defenses without armor and support was very vulnerable. In fact, the Russian salient looked ripe for cutting off.  And that is exactly what the Ukrainians have been doing all day yesterday and overnight.  And still doing.

I generally do not post diaries about the day-to-day movements in the battle front maps.  Others here do a wonderful yeoman’s job of it.  But this week, in many media venues, has been filled with a lot of teeth gnashing, hair pulling and hand waving concerning the sudden “break through” of Russian forces to the estimated depth of 15 km North of Pokrovsk.  

The threat was real and had to be dealt with. But the implication of a lot of commentary on the situation was borderline alarmist and condemnatory of the military leadership of Ukraine.  How could they sit there and let the Russians breach their first line?  Why are there not enough soldiers to man the fortifications?  Some including former officers(they resigned from the army) even attributed the situation to a dereliction of duty by Ukrainian army command.  Really?

It’s not as if the Ukrainian commanders on the field could not see the Russians making their move. Any cursory look at the map showed that the developing Russian “tuning fork” shaped advance was not sustainable and that the few squads of infantry soldiers the Russians had pushed that far up field deep into the Ukrainian defenses without armor and support was very vulnerable. In fact a couple of our fellow kossacks mentioned on quaoar’s diary that the Russian salient looked ripe for cutting off.  And that is exactly what the Ukrainians have been doing all day yesterday and overnight.  And still doing … ripping up the Russian advance and capturing as many as they can.

Six days ago I posted a diary here regarding how the Ukrainians are preparing for the decisive battle for Donetsk [ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE: The Coming Decisive Battle For Donetsk .. A Picture Speaks Volumes]… www.dailykos.com/…

 

The business like intense picture of General Syrskyi poring over maps of the field with some of his senior corps commanders in a bunker somewhere on the Pokrovsky front was not only evocative but told of how they’d probably gamed it all out and mapped out what was afoot on the Russian side.  That corps commander Denys “Redis” Prokopenko and his hard core 1st Corps Azov as well as the elite and battle tested 47th Mechanized Brigade(Ukraine’s veritable “fire men”) had been rotated to Pokrovsk from the Toretsky-Siversky direction was a major tell that the Russians in that salient were about to go through some things. 

President Zelenskyy’s calm demeanor and response when asked about the Russian advance on Pokrovsk a couple of days ago was also a tell … we got this, he seemed to say.

The Russians have learned to take advantage of the time window between Ukrainian unit rotations.  It has worked for them in a few instances, most notably the ensuing gap at Ocheretyne just outside of Avdiivka … enabling the Russians to go on their gonzo run to the outskirts of Pokrovsk last winter.  Not this time. The Ukrainians saw it coming and are quickly turning the table on the Russians:

151 Russians Dead, Dozens Wounded as Ukraine Fights to Contain Pokrovsk Breakthrough

Ukrainian soldiers caused heavy losses to Russian forces in the Pokrovsk sector, killing 151 soldiers in just 48 hours, according to the Azov 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine on August 14.

“The enemy is suffering significant losses. Over the past two days, 151 occupiers have been eliminated in our area of responsibility,” the corps said in a statement.

In addition, more than 70 Russian troops were wounded and eight taken prisoner. Fighting remains ongoing.