Marta Gichko09:39, 30.08.24

Pokrovsk’s strategically important defences have been weakened by the demands of Russia’s invasion of the Kursk region, critics say.

Zelensky came under fire for offensive in Kursk region / UNIAN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has come under fire from soldiers, lawmakers and military analysts over the rapid advance of the Russian army in eastern Ukraine after Kyiv launched a bold invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.

As the Financial Times reports , many Ukrainians celebrated their army’s invasion of the Kursk region, hoping that this adventure would force Moscow to redirect resources to a new front and change the tempo of the war in Ukraine’s favor.

“The soldiers are not to blame”

But a breakthrough on the front line in the strategically important Donetsk region this week has sparked a backlash against the leadership in Kyiv, with critics arguing that Ukraine’s position has been weakened by the redeployment of thousands of battle-hardened Ukrainian troops before the Kursk operation.

Russian troops are closing in on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, taking several nearby towns this week and forcing undermanned Ukrainian units to retreat from prepared defensive positions.

According to Ukrainian analytical group Frontelligence Insight, Pokrovsk is one of two key rail and road hubs in the Donetsk region, and its loss would threaten the logistics of the Ukrainian military throughout the region.

Satellite images analyzed by open-source researchers at the Finnish Black Bird Group show Russian troops just 8 km from Pokrovsk. In response, local authorities ordered the evacuation of residents in the area.

Aleksandr Kovalenko, a military analyst with the Kyiv-based group Information Resistance, called the situation on the eastern outskirts of Pokrovsk “a complete defensive failure.”

“The ordinary soldiers who hold their positions are not to blame. The problem is with those who make decisions for these soldiers,” he noted, pointing to the Ukrainian leadership.

Several military personnel in the area expressed concern about the defenses around Pokrovsk.

Zhenya, a Ukrainian soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade who fought in the grueling 10-month battle for Bakhmut last year, described the rapidly deteriorating situation in Pokrovsk. He criticized the military command structure, citing systemic failures and inadequate responses to changing battlefield conditions.

“To be honest, I have never seen anything like this. Everything is falling apart so quickly. Pokrovsk will fall much faster than Bakhmut,” he said.

“Total chaos”

Ukrainian troops withdrew this week from Novogrodovka, 8km southeast of Pokrovsk. The Centre for Defence Strategies (CDS), a Kyiv-based security think tank, said the withdrawal showed a lack of defence resources despite Pokrovsk’s importance as a logistics hub.

People’s Deputy, member of the Defense Committee Maryana Bezuglaya posted photos on Facebook from her visit to the frontline near Novogrodovka last week. She claimed that the Russians had opened the way to Pokrovsk.

“The trenches in front of Novogrodovka were empty. There was practically no Ukrainian army in the once 20,000-strong city,” she wrote in a sharp post.

General Alexander Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said Thursday that he had visited the Pokrovsk area and was working to “strengthen our troops’ defenses on the most difficult sections of the front, provide the brigades with sufficient ammunition and other logistical resources.”

During a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelensky called the situation on the front line near Pokrovsk “extremely difficult” but said Russia’s advance in the area had slowed after Ukraine’s offensive in the Kursk region.

In fact, according to several military analysts, including Deep State, a Ukrainian group closely tied to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry that monitors frontline movements, Russian troops have been advancing faster in the Donbas than in previous months since August 6.

“It’s total chaos here,” said Deep State’s Roman Pogorely, pointing to the fall of key towns such as Novogrodovka.

Over the past three weeks, Moscow’s forces have quickly captured more than two dozen towns and villages with minimal resistance, including the long-held fortress of New York.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, attributed Russia’s success to a lack of experienced Ukrainian infantry and the diversion of resources to the Kursk offensive.

“Ukraine has committed reserves to Kursk, leaving fewer options to fill gaps elsewhere. Some of the more experienced brigades have been replaced by new, less experienced units,” Lee said.

“The city will soon cease to exist”

Soldiers who were mobilized this summer under new mobilization laws designed to bolster the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were sent into battle without training or experience.

“They don’t know what to do in a real fight. Many ‘turn and run at the first explosion,'” said a lieutenant whose troops are on the front lines near Pokrovsk.

Soldiers from artillery units near Pokrovsk also noted a shortage of shells and a serious discrepancy in firepower compared to Russian troops.

“We’re running low on shells. We just don’t have enough,” the artillery commander said, noting that many resources had been diverted north to Kursk. Over the past month or so, his unit had one shell for every six to eight fired by the Russians.

Meanwhile, Russian troops retain a significant tactical advantage, backed by superior aviation and drone capabilities, as well as artillery, the CDS think tank reports.

Ukrainian journalist and military man Stanislav Aseyev, who is currently on the eastern front, warned of the possible “destruction of the entire southern group of troops in the region, not just Pokrovsk.” He cited “a complex of internal reasons: from planting flowers instead of fortifications to a lack of understanding on the part of the high command of problems that are obvious to every soldier in the trenches.”

“What can be done for Pokrovsk? Unfortunately, the only way out is to evacuate as many people as possible. I think the city will soon cease to exist,” Aseyev said.

Frontelligence said the Ukrainian leadership could still bolster the front line by deploying new brigades or redeploying forces from other areas. But if Pokrovsk falls, it could open the way for Russian troops to reach Dnieper, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city.

(C)UNIAN 2024