Mariupol is on the Azov Sea, that will be one of the last places that Ukraine will be able to reclaim. it’s only 50km from the Russian border and 150km from Rostov. and that city has been razed to the ground, likely be a long time before it’s inhabitable.
What you’re thinking of (if I’m understanding correctly), is trying to split the front right down the middle, towards Melitopol, effectively cutting off supply to the west of that city except for Crimean access.
This is a very difficult proposition, as it results in a situation where they can be attacked from multiple sides.
Anywhere along that rail-road line, yes. The Russians had difficulty last Fall just keeping the forces in Kherson supplied when it was an active front. There are just so few significant East-West routes.
because of this…remember? Last Oct. it’s been fixed.
They were having difficulties even before that Crimea road was interrupted - and that bridge is more easily hit now than it was then.
1 Like
if UA forces really wanted to squeeze that southern end of the front, drop a massive fucking bomb on those Kerch bridge spans and sink it into the sea. that would totally fuck their supply chain across the front to Zaporizhzhia (sp?)
1 Like
If you hit that bridge at the same time as a drive south toward the sea, both supply routes would be compromised. The attack last Fall was not much more than a proof of concept that helped squeeze the Kherson position.
great concept in theory, but that doesn’t change the number of existing troops already in the area. Crimea has been under Russian control for 9 years as has the central section of the eastern front including Luhansk and Donetsk.
These positions will not easily be moved. 9 years of building defensive positions, infrastructure, etc.
interesting little pocket of “Ukrainian Partisan Warfare” in the middle of Melitopol, though
Taking Crimea will be a very different proposition. But the Russians have had nowhere near the same amount of time or resources to prepare defences elsewhere - and there are just 3 roads connecting Crimea to the mainland to the north (two of which join almost immediately). The new weaponry Ukraine has gives them the range to hit the Perekop area from just 10km SE of Kherson.
Your point about the Russian fortifications in Luhansk and Donetsk is why I don’t think Bakhmut is that critical for Ukraine. It just isn’t that far from those positions, which will probably be the last that Ukraine will want to attack. Even Crimea is more vulnerable.
again, this is about supply routes and logistics. take a better look at the roads which pass through Bakhmut and where they go. maybe it’ll shine a bit of insight as to why it’s so important, when you look past the line in either direction of where each army want to go.
-
The M-network of roads (Ukrainian: Міжнародні, romanized: Mizhnarodni - International) along with H-network (Ukrainian: Національні, romanized: Natsionalni - National) range from 01 to 33 and consist of two digits. These roads are designed for the major transportation corridors across the country and the European highway system.
-
The P-network of roads (Ukrainian: Регіональні, romanized: Rehionalni - Regional) ranges from 01 to 84 and also is a combination of two digits.
-
The T-network (Ukrainian: Територіальні, romanized: Terytorialni - Territorial) of roads are part of territorial road network within the main subdivision of Ukraine (i.e. regions of Ukraine) and their index includes a combination of four digits with extra two indices to identify the region where a particular road is located.
1 Like
I’m trying to find a rail map for the area as well, I’m pretty sure there’s a rail line that runs through Bakhmut that follows the E-40 all the way to Kharkiv.
Provocation ongoing, Putin is ab\n an emergency meeting, as supposed Ukrainian sabotage groups have supposedly take control over two villages in Brjansk. They claim to be Russian anti-Kremlin patriots.
Russia claims its a large scale Ukainian terrorist attack and that school busses and kindergartens have been targeted. A kid is supposedly dead etc.
It could be RU partisans (maybe) or a Gleiwitz incident.
2 Likes
So it actually is Russians. I agree with those who say that this will lead to nothing good. They won’t accomplish anything militarily, Rodgvardia already on their way to retake them, and the nazi ties are ruinous. 50 guys on a mission it seems.
It’s maybe damaged, but it did fly to Russia of its own accord today for repairs. Unclear how damaged it was or if at all.
But
