Sept 6 (Reuters) – A Russian-appointed official has acknowledged that Moscow’s forces have abandoned the Ukrainian village of Robotyne, more than a week after Kyiv announced its recapture.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region, said in a television interview that the Russian army had withdrawn for what he called tactical reasons.
“The Russian army abandoned – tactically abandoned – this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in… doesn’t generally make sense. Therefore the Russian army moved off into the hills,” news outlet RBC quoted him as saying.
Russia has not previously acknowledged the loss of Robotyne, whose recapture was announced by Ukraine on Aug. 28. In its daily update on Tuesday, the Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled two Ukrainian attacks near Robotyne.
More than 18 months after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine says it is gaining ground and has broken through Russia’s first line of fortifications in several places on the front line, despite repeated statements from Moscow that Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive has been a failure.
Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Michael Perry
“The Russian army abandoned – tactically abandoned – this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in… doesn’t generally make sense.”
This is great news for Ukraine, because if the orcs can’t dig in successfully after 18 months in their strongest defence line, the rest should be a lot easier. Of course the orcs had their collective arses kicked, and performed one of their famous goodwill gestures, despite Putler’s claim about failed counteroffensive.
Some good developments near Staromayorske. The DT reports :
“Ukrainian troops have likely pinned down some of Russia’s elite soldiers in Donetsk, preventing them from redeploying to a key part of the frontline, a prominent US think tank has said.
Some 49 soldiers of the 7th VDV Division were killed in action in one day of fighting near the village of Staromayorske with Russian command reportedly not overseeing the retrieval of bodies, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said, citing a Russian military blogger who posted an audio recording purportedly from a Russian soldier.
The ISW said in its daily update: “Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area are likely succeeding in pinning elements of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne (VDV) Division and preventing them from laterally redeploying to critical areas of the front in western Zaporizhia Oblast.”
Outstanding. All I can say….
Слава Україні!
Героям слава!
Tactical withdrawal, my ass!