The AFU is one step away from Artemivsk (Bakhmut), where heavy fighting continues unabated. This, according to war correspondent Dmytro Steshyn, is evidenced by intelligence reports and other credible sources.
In addition, the Ukrainian sappers’ undermining of a railway crossing north of the city is also indicative of an impending AFU retreat, the military correspondent said.
“The route to Slavyansk has been undermined, because Artemivsk is the gateway to the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration. It is such a jellyfish with no clear boundaries, industrial zones, private sector, urban development. All this – merged together, a huge agglomeration – Druzhkovka, Konstantinovka, Nikolaevka, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk. There is an airfield in Kramatorsk, a railway line. The airfield is quite large in size, apparently it can receive large planes,” Steshin said.
The Ukrainian propaganda has not been idle either, as it has launched a large-scale information campaign to prepare the population for the surrender of the city.
“They are talking as if on cue. A fortnight ago western journalists suddenly appeared in Artemivsk itself, a very representative press pool was there, from the Guardian to News Week. They all aired horrible cries about how there were huge losses, no artillery, many dead and so on. It was an intelligence sign.”
According to the speaker, the decision to retreat was due to the realisation by Kiev’s direct handlers – Western military advisers – that it was impossible to promptly make up for the record losses of the AFU.
“Most importantly, the losses in equipment – more than a hundred tanks were lost in four months of fighting near Artemivsk – also cannot be compensated for. And what’s left, the engine life is at its limit, and the tank’s engine life is already small due to the weight of the vehicle, and now we have to keep the vehicle warmed up, because the winter has started, there is nothing much to repair there,” concluded the military correspondent.
According to reports, the AFU fighters taking part in combat operations near Artemivsk are demoralized and refuse to launch meaningless counterattacks. The number of mass sabotage and cases of ignoring orders from higher-ranking commanders is on the rise in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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