https://sputnikglobe.com/20231027/donbass-front-going-to-shatter-like-glass-once-avdeevka-liberated---russell-bentley-1114531130.html
‘Donbass Front Going to Shatter Like Glass’ Once Avdeevka Liberated - Russell Bentley
‘Donbass Front Going to Shatter Like Glass’ Once Avdeevka Liberated - Russell Bentley
Sputnik International
Russian forces began a sustained push to surround and wear down Ukrainian forces in the town of Avdeevka this month. US-born Donbass militia volunteer-turned Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley outlines why the Russian Army has attached such significance to the settlement, which is situated in the heart of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
2023-10-27T16:09+0000
2023-10-27T16:09+0000
2023-10-27T16:09+0000
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Russian forces are continuing their slow, grinding advance into Avdeevka, with the town and its environs witnessing arguably heaviest fighting along the entire 1,000 kilometer-long front in recent weeks after the collapse of Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive. Dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles have been reported destroyed, with hundreds of troops killed and thousands wounded.During the offensive, Russian forces have reportedly managed to capture a local strategic height - a coke slack formed by the nearby Avdeevka Coke Plant.Commenting on Russian operations in the Avdeevka direction, Russell Bentley said that the capture of the strategic height has given Russian forces a key “strategic position.”“Right now, the pincers are closing. What is not occupied around Avdeevka by Russian forces is under observation, which allows us to bring in drones, artillery, rocket fire, whatever we need in order to block off reinforcements and re-provisioning of the Ukrainian forces still holed up in Avdeevka,” the correspondent noted.Bentley, who served near and in Avdeevka after coming to the Donbass, first in 2014 when he volunteered to fight alongside local militias, and then again in 2016 and 2017, recalled that during the days of the Minsk Agreements ceasefire, the town served as a front line position. “We got shot at pretty frequently, pretty hard and we weren’t allowed to shoot back without permission from our commanders. So, a lot of times we just got shot at and weren’t able to shoot back.”At the same time, he said, over the years, Ukrainian forces worked to build a massive network of defensive fortifications in and under the town, including a whole “underground city underneath the regular city” consisting of tunnels.Frontline Moving Away From City of Donetsk“Another big development is that as the Russian forces have moved forward on the northern side of the pincer, the Ukrainian artillery that’s been bombing Donetsk and Makeevka for almost ten years, ever since the beginning of the war, has had to move back further and further,” Bentley noted.That, he said, means that “we’re getting to the point where literally, what we’ve all been praying for here in Donetsk all these years, the [Ukrainians] are getting ready to be moved out from artillery range. They’re not going to be able to hit the cities, the civilian parts of Donetsk and Makeevka anymore. And that’s a beautiful thing, a beautiful thing, but it’s not there yet. But we’re getting there. We’re making moves.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231025/russell-bentley-ukraines-manpower-problem-1114478895.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231010/why-i-am-not-an-independent-journalist-1114065354.html
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‘Donbass Front Going to Shatter Like Glass’ Once Avdeevka Liberated - Russell Bentley
Russian forces began a sustained push to surround and wear down Ukrainian forces in the town of Avdeevka this month. US-born Donbass militia volunteer-turned Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley outlines why the Russian Army has attached such significance to the settlement, which is situated in the heart of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Russian forces are continuing their slow, grinding advance into Avdeevka, with the town and its environs witnessing arguably heaviest fighting along the entire 1,000 kilometer-long front in recent weeks after the collapse of Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive. Dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles have been reported destroyed, with hundreds of troops killed and thousands wounded.
During the offensive, Russian forces have reportedly managed to capture a local strategic height - a coke slack formed by the nearby Avdeevka Coke Plant.
Commenting on Russian operations in the Avdeevka direction, Russell Bentley said that the capture of the strategic height has given Russian forces a key “strategic position.”
“From there, [Russian forces] can observe for miles around not only the coke plant, where a lot of Ukrainian soldiers are holed up, but also the old town of Avdeevka and even further up to the north and to the west,” Bentley explained.
“Right now, the pincers are closing. What is not occupied around Avdeevka by Russian forces is under observation, which allows us to bring in drones, artillery, rocket fire, whatever we need in order to block off reinforcements and re-provisioning of the Ukrainian forces still holed up in Avdeevka,” the correspondent noted.
The town is a strategic point for “the whole Donbass front,” Bentley said, stressing that “when it falls, the Donbass front is going to shatter like glass. Once Avdeevka is out of the way, Russia will be able to move in any direction that they want for as far as they want. It’s one of the strongest positions that’s ever been built in this war. Once it’s taken, the Ukrainians aren’t going to have…any defensive positions that can anywhere near match what they built up in Avdeevka over almost nine years of reinforcing it.”
25 October 2023, 19:00 GMT
Bentley, who served near and in Avdeevka after coming to the Donbass, first in 2014 when he volunteered to fight alongside local militias, and then again in 2016 and 2017, recalled that during the days of the Minsk Agreements ceasefire, the town served as a front line position. “We got shot at pretty frequently, pretty hard and we weren’t allowed to shoot back without permission from our commanders. So, a lot of times we just got shot at and weren’t able to shoot back.”
At the same time, he said, over the years, Ukrainian forces worked to build a massive network of defensive fortifications in and under the town, including a whole “underground city underneath the regular city” consisting of tunnels.
Frontline Moving Away From City of Donetsk
“Another big development is that as the Russian forces have moved forward on the northern side of the pincer, the Ukrainian artillery that’s been bombing Donetsk and Makeevka for almost ten years, ever since the beginning of the war, has had to move back further and further,” Bentley noted.
That, he said, means that “we’re getting to the point where literally, what we’ve all been praying for here in Donetsk all these years, the [Ukrainians] are getting ready to be moved out from artillery range. They’re not going to be able to hit the cities, the civilian parts of Donetsk and Makeevka anymore. And that’s a beautiful thing, a beautiful thing, but it’s not there yet. But we’re getting there. We’re making moves.”
10 October 2023, 13:51 GMT
