Events at front: 09.09.2024

So, we will comment on the situation from map to map.

The first map is a Vuhledar city district.

I would like to draw attention to the village of Prechystivka. Heavy fighting is going on here. Three days ago, Russian troops attacked this position and captured Prechystivka. Today they are trying to assault the village of Zolota Nyva. Heavy fighting is taking place in the area of our 58th motorized infantry brigade. Why did the enemy manage to capture Prechystivka? The 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade is commanded by Colonel Ruslan Shevchuk, one of the best brigade commanders in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a man of great authority and experience in the military. He has a large area of responsibility. One of our battalions was defending Prechystivka for a long time. In this area, which repelled all enemy attacks, perhaps because of this, someone had the impression that the situation in Prechystivka was stable. There was a sudden and complete rotation, and the battalion that had been holding positions there for many months in a row was withdrawn, transferred to another direction, and a very weakened TDF (Territorial Defense Forces) unit was sent there. The enemy noticed the rotation, as it always does, and struck four days after the rotation. Unfortunately, a miracle did not happen, and, of course, the unit, which had no experience and did not have the necessary strength, could not hold these positions. Today, our troops are doing everything they can to inflict maximum damage here, firepower and drones are involved, and everything possible is being done here. There is clear command of the troops, understanding of the situation by the command, correct and accurate situational awareness, and the means available in the area are working with effective targeting. Let's see, heavy fighting continues, the enemy continues to attack, trying to attack Zolota Nyva. 

The other direction is Vodiane, Kostiantynivka district.

Our soldiers are here, the backbone of Vuhledar's defense - the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, with a significant number of attached units. The enemy is trying to break through in the area of Kostiantynivka. The enemy managed to capture Kostiantynivka in the area of Vodiane, i.e. to outflank Vuhledar. As we see, the attack on Vodiane is very dangerous. The enemy continues to advance and has actually deeply outflanked Vuhledar. This is a very dangerous wedge in this area that requires maximum attention. The enemy is also advancing from the area of captured Kostiantynivka. The situation in this area is very, very difficult. Massive enemy attacks, constant attacks by small infantry groups are taking place, and they are combined with the destruction of our positions, the situation is very difficult, the front is moving.

The next map shows the Kurakhove direction.

Kostiantynivka-Pobieda and Novomykhailivka are also here. In the area of Kurakhove, the enemy continues its mechanized assaults and tank rallies. Here, the 59th Air Assault Brigade and its attached units continue to repel all attacks on Kurakhove itself. But the threat is coming from the south, the enemy realized that it faced strong resistance here, and is gradually strengthening the directions of attack to the south and north.

Next map

Very heavy fighting is going on here now. The enemy was advancing on the Pokrovsk - Myrnohrad - Selydove area, attacking this area, and had practically captured the village of Mykhailivka. Mykhailivka is a suburb of Selydove. Heavy fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Selydove. The enemy captured the village of Memryk. The enemy approached the village of Ukrainsk. Fighting is going on right on the outskirts of Ukrainsk. The enemy is already trying to advance. Even according to some data, as we can see, the enemy has already managed to capture part of Ukrainsk. But the main goal of the Russians, of course, is to capture the village of Hirnyk. And after that, an operational encirclement actually appeared on the map here. Our troops are holding this salient. The enemy has advanced so rapidly and is advancing from the area of Kalynove-Memryk, captured Halytsynivka, who was already fighting for Ukrainsk and approached Hirnyk.

Hirnyk is known for being one of the highest elevated plains in Donbas. It is in Hirnyk that there is such a memorial sign that it is one of the highest points in Donbas. And this large elevated plain, of course, is so dominant for the enemy to advance further. The situation here is very difficult. In other words, while the enemy has slowed down in the direction of Pokrovsk, the main marching replenishment is taking place here. They are using the very weak management of the 59th Motorized Infantry Brigade, as I have said many times, the Ukrainian command, personally Oleksandr Syrskyi, does not pay any attention to the crisis state of management in this unit and does not take any measures to improve it. Unfortunately, we see here a complete unwillingness to face reality, a lack of understanding of the real situation and the problems of the troops. I hope that Oleksandr Syrskyi will visit the command post in this area at least once, not to take photos on some kind of command and observation post (СOP), but to listen to the commanders of battalions, companies, especially attached units. Whether the command here is in control of our situation, whether there is a stable connection with the front line, whether there is adequate command of the troops. Well, if everything is fine, then explain somehow why there is such a continuous advance and still no frontier can be found where the enemy can at least be stopped for a couple of days. Such an irresponsible attitude to the fact that the enemy continues to advance in this direction is surprising. The situation here is very threatening and requires action by the Ukrainian command. Hirnyk is a very important point. And it's not a problem of the number of troops, it's primarily a problem of troop management and organization. Unfortunately, there is no attention to this. The enemy is trying to actually collapse our front, to create a threat to capture Kurakhove from the north. To move the entire front, to capture Vuhledar. Now they have advanced as much as ever and have captured Vuhledar. At the same time, they are capturing Kurakhove. At the same time, they are creating a wedge, and then they will advance on Selydove, Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad from some flank. 

The next map shows the area of Pokrovsk itself.

At this point, the enemy has entered and continues to advance. They stopped him near Myrnohrad, but they cannot fully stabilize the front line, so the enemy continues to advance, the pace of advance has slowed down because the enemy has moved its main efforts to the south. The Russians do not want breakthroughs on a narrow front, and they decide to turn their success on the Pokrovsko- Selydove direction to strategically collapse our front to the south, to capture Vuhledar, to capture Kurakhove. They need this, after we lost Krasnohorivka, they want to collapse the entire front to the south. Then, of course, the enemy will advance further. The situation in this area is very complicated because there is still no order in the management at the tactical level. This is a serious challenge. One of the brigade commanders defending one of these towns reported reliable information about the situation. He was removed for reporting areal situation that he did not have control of one of his flanks. Unfortunately, this is chaos in the troops, the command of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and the commander of the OSGT Hnatov cannot restore order at the tactical level. I would like to see preparations for the defense of Pokrovsk. Unfortunately, the civil-military administration is not doing anything for this, and the military command, I do not know how, there is interaction, but we do not see systematic actions to organize defensive borders, which we have talked about many times.

Next map

Unfortunately, as we see, most of the city is no longer controlled by our troops. This data is in line with the data from the Deep State. The situation here is very difficult because the enemy continues to advance. Some of our reinforcements and reserves have arrived here. The scale of the enemy's advance has stopped, but most of the village of New York has already been lost, so the fighting is actually on the outskirts. We don't know how long they will last, as the enemy is using the construction zone, high-rise buildings in New York and now has a more convenient tactical position. But the advantage in the tactical situation is currently on the enemy's side, sad to say. I would like to say right away that, unlike the Russians' reports that they have captured New York, in fact, another part of the city, albeit a small one on the outskirts, is controlled by the Ukrainian defense forces. That is why Russian propaganda always tries to speed up the advance of its troops and boasts in advance of successes that they have not yet achieved.

Next, the situation with Toretsk.

The situation in Toretsk is also very complicated today, with assaults, the enemy is trying to advance in the area of Nelipivka, trying to drive a wedge between Toretsk and New York and thus encircle the defense forces fighting in Toretsk itself. Unfortunately, most of the city has already been captured by the enemy, and the fighting continues here as well, and is going on in the city itself, and the enemy has managed to capture a significant part of the buildings, and also has a positional advantage in some areas.

Next is the Chasiv Yar area.

Our soldiers control the situation, but in some areas, the enemy is trying to drive a wedge, and now north of Chasiv Yar, there is a dangerous wedge - the enemy is trying to create a bridgehead in the area of Kalynivka and create a threat to capture the city from the north. The enemy has captured part of the city, and now they are trying to create a bridgehead across the canal, we see a small bridgehead marked on the map, they are trying to expand it. The enemy's advance is very minimal, and it is taking very heavy losses. In general, the situation here is very difficult, but thanks to the efforts of our soldiers, it still seems more stable than it is in the south.

The Borova-Svatove area.

The enemy is trying to advance here, and the most dangerous wedge is in the area of Pishchane. Pishchane is a very important hotspot right now. The enemy is actually in this area of Pishchane at the moment. The most critical situation is at the so-called Oskil frontier. The enemy is trying to reach the Oskil military line. The Russians have long captured the dominant heights in this area, and now our positions there are very much down to the water. The situation in the area of Pishchane is very critical. There is a village of Kolesnykivka right in front of Pishchane, not marked on the map, but close to the water. The Russians are trying to get there. Kolesnykivka is now 4 kilometers away from the enemy's front lines. If the enemy reaches Kolesnykivka, it's a kilometer and a half further, it's already Oskil, and then they will start to expand the breakthrough along Oskil from the flanks. The enemy's strategic and operational goal in this area is to capture the entire Oskil military line and all these settlements beyond Oskil that we are currently defending. That is, the situation in Pishchane is really critical. The enemy has advanced in this area over the past week. Unfortunately, it may not be visible on the map, but this gray area we are fighting for is already under enemy control, and the Russians have managed to capture more than 10 square kilometers. It's a very difficult situation, there are battles going on, very heavy, but the enemy is advancing, and it requires maximum attention.

This is just to give us a general overview of the situation, you can see how they are advancing from Pishchane to Kolesnykivka, how it looks along the entire front. This is a very, very dangerous Russian breakthrough. Also, of course, there are battles in other areas, and they are also very dangerous. From the area of Pishchane, the enemy is trying to encircle our troops to cut off the salient they made in the Pishchane-Novoselivske area.

The next one is the Lyptsi area, Kharkiv region.

Near Kharkiv, the enemy managed to capture the gray zone, and there was a fight for it, as you can see on the map. On the other hand, our troops also launched a counterattack here, but the map does not show an arrow, but the situation is actually as follows: the area circled in blue is where the 13th National Guard Brigade "Charter" drove the enemy back from Lyptsi, we can already see that the enemy has been driven back several kilometers from Lyptsi, and the situation in Lyptsi has improved. The enemy is not succeeding here, i.e. Lyptsi is a key settlement near Kharkiv from an operational point of view, but the enemy has not managed to advance here, it is gradually and gradually being driven back.

The last map is the offensive in the Kursk region.

The front line has actually stabilized there. There has been no particular advance on either side. The defense forces are trying to limit the Russian bridgehead near the border from Tyotkino to Yelizavetovka and continue to destroy logistics, crossings, and limit the maneuver of enemy forces in the area in order to create a sanitary zone, a buffer zone, along the border and secure the Ukrainian lands of Sumy region. Heavy fighting is taking place here, with a huge number of high-precision weapons. The enemy is trying to use aviation, literally all types of drones are being thrown into the fight. The situation is very difficult, but it is difficult for the enemy to create strike groups to attack here. They have pulled all the forces they could. I have already counted battalion tactical groups from about 18 Russian brigades and divisions that the enemy has concentrated here. And a composite regiment of strategic missile troops and a composite regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces. They are already throwing any improvised formations into battle.

We made a brief overview and quickly went through the situation on the map.

General analysis

There are maneuvering operations at the front, and active operations have begun in the same way as in 2022. In other words, the enemy has captured many tens of square kilometers over the past month. It may even be over a hundred square kilometers of our land. We have lost territories in Donbas and Kharkiv region. The enemy has now pushed our defense in several directions. And, in fact, in several directions - the Pokrovsk direction, the Hirnyk direction, i.e. the Kurakhove direction, the Pishchane direction, i.e. the Kupiansk direction, and the Vuhledar direction, north of Vuhledar - the enemy has already managed to push through our defense, and there are maneuvering positional battles there. Maneuvering battles that, unfortunately, cannot be transformed into positional battles. In fact, they are encounter battles. We need positional defense in this area, of course, to stabilize the enemy's offensive. But the situation is very acute.

I emphasize that there are very active hostilities in 12 areas, and in four of them the enemy managed to push through our defense, and the situation there is, let's say, uncontrollable at the moment. And this control needs to be established. We cannot keep silent about this situation, because now there is a great threat to our entire front in the East. It has been created, it exists. It requires systematic actions by the command and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, nothing is said about this. There are no systematic actions to defend cities, to create and deploy a strategic defense line where the enemy is advancing.

I want to note that this plays a critical role in many areas. Where the enemy is advancing uncontrollably, there is a loss of control in those areas where it is able to advance so quickly. So, in these four areas, I mentioned, north of Vuhledar, the Hirnyk area, where the enemy has actually created an operational encirclement, in the area we talked about, the Hirnyk, Halitsynivka, Novoselivka areas, in other words, in this area, the enemy is increasing pressure and has created a threat of an operational encirclement of our troops. The area of Selydove-Pokrovsk and the area of Pishchane, Pishchane in the Kupiansk direction, the situation is uncontrolled.

And what is needed there in the first place? Not the number of troops, not the amount of ammunition. First of all, we need adequate management at the tactical and operational level. This is a big problem. Because if in other areas we have a critical situation, but somehow the enemy is being held back, thanks to units of heroism, professionalism, skill, and many factors, there are four areas where, unfortunately, the enemy feels more free. He can maneuver. He succeeds. They do not allow us to gain a foothold on the frontlines. And this situation requires the immediate attention of the country's top leadership and immediate measures. First and foremost, each of these areas lacks adequate tactical and operational management. There should be capable brigade headquarters with their own combat-ready troops. Then it is possible to create interaction with the large number of units, individual battalions, companies, platoons, everything that is sent to the areas. Because if you send a large number of units, and you don't have general command in the area of responsibility, an adequate brigade headquarters with adequate aerial reconnaissance, adequate target destruction, a UAV unit that can use drones at different frequencies, and has spare drones, spare mavics. If this is not the case, there will be no situational business or management. And in some units, in the same Hirnyk direction, there are signals when communication is even lost in large sections of the front. And of course, no one pays attention to this. Our leaders do not monitor what is happening in critical areas. Everyone wants to get away from the problems: somehow, somehow, something will figure it out. 

This irresponsibility is at the highest level and can only be compensated for by one thing. We have responsible brigade commanders in each section of the frontline, and we still have combat-ready formations. And we need to improve management, this is not my opinion, this is the opinion of the soldiers who are fighting in these critical areas. It is necessary to drag out brigade units there, and at least one brigade at this critical direction, in order to subordinate these small units, to organize command and control interaction, so that the brigades themselves can organize adequate defense at the borders. If this is not done, the situation will deteriorate, and we do not even know where it will stop, this creeping offensive. The enemy is able to conduct it for a long time, it will not end by itself. The Russians are stopped by our high-quality brigades, high-quality commanders, first of all, only where there is systematic work, a planned approach, where the deployed defense lines are adequate, where there is some kind of controllability, intelligence, interaction, and communication. There will be no miracles, this is the only way to stop the enemy.

Therefore, I would like to draw attention to the fact that the situation is critical and requires critically fast action by the country's leadership. First of all, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Changes are needed. Those leaders who were appointed to the OTG are failed appointments for which Mr. Syrskyi himself is responsible. So he has to correct his mistakes. No one is saying that it is necessary to remove the head there. If you see that some of the brigade commanders you appoint are making trouble over and over again, they are not leading the troops, then why don't you take action? Why don't you dismiss the commanders who are unable to organize the interaction in the OTG?

The biggest problem in these current assaults is not the enemy's numbers, but our lack of people. First of all, people complain about the poor organization of interaction between the command of troops at the highest level.

Questions from the audience

Why is it possible to have long and thin breaches like those near Pishchane? They are shot through, why aren't they cut off? Why do the Muscovites do it and we don't?

To cut this off, you must first stop the enemy along the perimeter of this breach at the prepared defense lines, and then cut off these breaches with prepared tactical reserves. And if there is no prepared defense line, and after the enemy breaks through, an encounter battle for planting begins, who has more people to exchange for a planting where practically nothing has been dug, if there is such an encounter battle, and there is no interaction management, then, unfortunately, we cannot stop the enemy, first of all, and secondly, we cannot accumulate tactical reserves, because we throw everyone we have into this exchange. And the enemy has a lot of disposable soldiers for this exchange. They are chasing them under the threat of execution. Therefore, their discipline works in a way that our people cannot, and all the poorly organized units may not enter their positions. Unfortunately, this practice exists. Sometimes it is even justified when there are inadequate conditions of use, inadequate orders. But the enemy acts in a planned manner. They have a certain number of assaultmen, and they will send them all forward into battle. And they will all make it, because otherwise they will be shot by their own. So it's cruel, the Russians don't spare their own at all, but they can advance with these biorobots, gain a foothold even under very heavy fire and with heavy losses. 

Is there an effect of enhanced mobilization? What is the quality of the new recruits?

The quality of the new recruits depends on whether these brigades, where people are being transferred, have adequate commanders. And time to train people. Where there are competent brigade commanders who allocate at least a month for training, provide ammunition, assign experienced, high-quality fighters-sergeants as instructors and train people, the new recruits, who are dispersed among experienced sergeants-soldiers, perform at a high level. Well, you understand that in Ukraine, the intelligence and motivation of people in general, even those mobilized, even those caught in the TCR somewhere, if this person has driven up to zero line, has not escaped, has not swum the Tisza, has not paid bribes anywhere, then this person is much better motivated than those who are recruited and forced to go to war in Russia. The problem is not in the quality of the people themselves, but in their preparation. The less prepared a person is for war, the more they need to invest in training, in cohesion, and the higher the requirements for their use. That is, they can be used only with trained, experienced sergeants-fighters. Then it works, and many of our brigades use it that way.

Unfortunately, there is another problem: we have brigades with heavy losses, where the replenishment is not used properly, and the High Command looks at these losses and does not draw any conclusions: there is no war without losses. This is a lie. Of course, there is no war without losses. But there are reasonable losses, justified by the situation, and there are unreasonable losses, when a simply talentless commander who has no management organization simply receives even more replenishment than the one who holds the front efficiently and prevents unnecessary losses of people.

Therefore, increased mobilization is partially effective, but unfortunately, this effect is many times less than it could be if this quantitative mobilization was accompanied by high-quality training. The quality of training is absolutely not enough. It's not that a person should be kept in a tent for a month at a training ground, but that we need training units in the combat brigades themselves to improve the qualifications of the new recruits. The brigades should have time, at least a month and no less, to coordinate and prepare the replenishment that the training center sends them after a month of basic training, which is actually conducted at a very low, low-quality level in the training centers.

Do you believe it is possible to liberate Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions?

I believe that if Ukraine starts systemic reforms, analysis and decision-making based on its war experience, we can, first, stop the enemy and create a defense line. Secondly, if we analyze all this and start working, and this has been a long time coming, we can defeat Russian strike groups and inflict unacceptable losses that will not allow the enemy to continue new offensives. So, if we do a lot of work, first, to stabilize and organize strategic defense, and do a lot of work, second, to defeat and inflict unacceptable losses on the enemy, then I will believe that we are capable of the third. The third systemic step is to launch a counteroffensive and defeat the enemy in some areas. But not earlier. It is impossible to believe that victory will simply fall from the sky, from a telethon, out of nothing, out of the chaos that is now in some parts of the frontline. We need to be realistic and look at the situation critically and objectively.

Dear friends, thank you very much for the broadcast, I tried to be as concise as possible, although 12 directions and a very critical situation, unfortunately, are not manageable in many places. We need to call things as they are and make changes. Changes are possible only under the pressure of public opinion. Otherwise, our authorities do not move and do not react. And we need systemic, strategic changes.

I believe in one thing: every day we can win. And we are getting closer to victory with each passing day. If we have the right people in charge, decisions will be made not by abstract fantasies, but by those commanders, soldiers and officers, sergeants, who really show results in this war, who are not close to their superiors and not supine before someone else, who are not comfortable at their post in the chair, but who destroy the enemy. They have video evidence of the results of their work. They clearly know all their defense lines. And they do not lose people in vain, do not abandon them. They are responsible for every life entrusted to them by the people, the nation and the state. So, friends, when it happens, I will tell you, I believe in victory, I believe that we are able to achieve it. Thank you for the broadcast. Glory to Ukraine!