https://sputnikglobe.com/20240807/whats-toretsks-strategic-importance-and-why-is-the-ukrainian-military-losing-ground-there-1119669733.html
What's Toretsk's Strategic Importance and Why is the Ukrainian Military Losing Ground There?
What's Toretsk's Strategic Importance and Why is the Ukrainian Military Losing Ground There?
Sputnik International
The Russian Armed Forces are approaching one of Ukraine's most important logistics hubs in Donbass – Toretsk – from several directions. Why is Toretsk so crucial and what's behind the Ukrainian military failures there?
2024-08-07T15:57+0000
2024-08-07T15:57+0000
2024-08-07T15:56+0000
russia's special operation in ukraine
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Russian troops have begun to take Toretsk "in pincers", Igor Kimakovsky, adviser to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, told a Russian broadcaster on August 6.Earlier on July 30, Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the nearby settlement of Leninskoye, thus improving its tactical positions in the Toretsk direction.The expert noted that the actions in the Toretsk direction have intensified since spring along with Russian troop advances towards Pokrovsk and Slavyansk. The end goal is to speed up the liberation of the DPR.The geographical location of Toretsk creates all the conditions to turn it into a fortress, according to the pundit: the city was built on a hill surrounded by water obstacles from three sides.According to Russian and Western military observers, control over Toretsk will allow Russian forces to advance to the northwest – to Konstantinovka, the southern flank of Ukraine's major fortified area in Donbass, which runs along the line Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Druzhkovka-Konstantinovka.Furthermore, the liberation of Toretsk will also curb Ukraine's ability to shell Donetsk, Gorlovka and other residential areas of the DPR, according to Klupov.The US mainstream press raised the alarm over Russia's rapid advance in late July. The Washington Post reported that Russian forces "have mounted an arc of attack" in Donbass in a bid to take Pokrovsk, Chasov Yar, and Toretsk. According to the newspaper, the Russian military makes steady gains by adopting new tactics, while Ukrainian commanders and soldiers complain about "exhaustion and dwindling resources," including a severe lack of troops.On August 6, the New York Times drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian military was losing defensive positions outside Toretsk and inside New York, a smaller town a few kilometers to the south, following an ill-timed rotation of Ukrainian forces. The 41st Ukrainian Brigade that replaced the 24th in June was unprepared to defend Toretsk since it did not know the terrain, the newspaper said, citing Ukrainian soldiers.The lack of competence of the Ukrainian military leadership provides additional advantages for the Russian offensive, according to the reserve colonel.
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toretsk, why is toretsk strategically important, pokrovsk, ukraine war, war in ukraine, russian military offensive, ukrainian armed forces, syrsky, zaluzhny, donbass, donetsk people's republic
toretsk, why is toretsk strategically important, pokrovsk, ukraine war, war in ukraine, russian military offensive, ukrainian armed forces, syrsky, zaluzhny, donbass, donetsk people's republic
What's Toretsk's Strategic Importance and Why is the Ukrainian Military Losing Ground There?
The Russian Armed Forces are approaching one of Ukraine's most important logistics hubs in Donbass – Toretsk – from several directions. Why is Toretsk so crucial and what's behind the Ukrainian military failures there?
Russian troops have begun to take Toretsk "in pincers", Igor Kimakovsky, adviser to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, told a Russian broadcaster on August 6.
"Toretsk is already in an operational semi-encirclement," Reserve Colonel Rustem Klupov, a veteran of military intelligence and Hero of Russia, explained to Sputnik.
Earlier on July 30, Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the nearby settlement of Leninskoye, thus improving its tactical positions in the Toretsk direction.
The expert noted that the actions in
the Toretsk direction have intensified since spring along with Russian troop advances towards Pokrovsk and Slavyansk. The end goal is to speed up the liberation of the DPR.
"Toretsk is a very important hub from the point of view of logistical and tactical support for [Ukrainian] troops," Klupov said. "This is a heavily fortified area, which they will most likely hold until the end in order to contain our forces as much as possible, because if they do not contain them there, then the entire [Ukrainian] defense will crumble."
The geographical location of Toretsk creates all the conditions to turn it into a fortress, according to the pundit: the city was built on a hill surrounded by water obstacles from three sides.
According to Russian and Western military observers, control over Toretsk will allow Russian forces to advance to the northwest – to Konstantinovka, the southern flank of Ukraine's major fortified area in Donbass, which runs along the line Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Druzhkovka-Konstantinovka.
Furthermore, the liberation of Toretsk will also curb Ukraine's ability to shell Donetsk, Gorlovka and other residential areas of the DPR, according to Klupov.
The US mainstream press raised the alarm over Russia's
rapid advance in late July. The Washington Post reported that Russian forces "have mounted an arc of attack" in Donbass in a bid to take Pokrovsk, Chasov Yar, and Toretsk. According to the newspaper, the Russian military makes steady gains by adopting new tactics, while Ukrainian commanders and soldiers complain about "
exhaustion and dwindling resources," including a severe lack of troops.
On August 6, the New York Times drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian military was losing defensive positions outside Toretsk and inside New York, a smaller town a few kilometers to the south, following an ill-timed rotation of Ukrainian forces. The 41st Ukrainian Brigade that replaced the 24th in June was unprepared to defend Toretsk since it did not know the terrain, the newspaper said, citing Ukrainian soldiers.
The lack of competence of the Ukrainian military leadership provides additional advantages for the Russian offensive, according to the reserve colonel.
"The Ukrainian side is suffering very serious losses in command personnel. And they cannot fill this gap... At the operational-strategic and strategic level, they often undermine themselves by top brass replacements. They replaced [Commander-in-Chief Valery] Zaluzhny with [Oleksandr] Syrsky and the situation at the front has not changed at all or maybe it has even gotten worse," the pundit concluded.
