Threat of operational encirclement of Pokrovsk

The enemy is making significant progress there, and now there is a real threat of operational encirclement of the city of Pokrovsk, which means its possible rapid loss, the loss of one of the key communication hubs.

Yesterday (10 December - Ed.) I wrote about the complete lack of supplies of reconnaissance drones for drops of Mavic type. Our troops fighting south of Pokrovsk are receiving zero equipment from the Ministry of Defence, nothing for such an important area. I am very grateful to the viewers and readers. We have already raised about UAH 2.5 million. And all these funds have already been used to purchase drones, primarily Mavic 3T, and antenna equipment for their use. They will be handed over to the unit that is trying to stop the Russian breakthrough and save the city just south of Pokrovsk.

Let's start with a quote from the commander of the 108th "DaVinci Wolves" battalion, Serhii Filimonov. The 108th "DaVinci Wolves" Battalion is deployed in the area of the enemy's main attack, south of Pokrovsk. The battalion is part of the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade, and this battalion commander is directly in charge of the battle in this area. Here is what he says."The main reason for the disaster in the Pokrovsk sector is the high command, which sets unrealistic tasks for the units. Generals who do not understand the capabilities of the units and do not know the situation on the contact line."

I emphasise that this was stated yesterday directly by the battalion commander, who was in the area we are going to talk about today, about the situation and why, in the commander's opinion, the disaster occurred there.

So, since we are talking about generals, let's talk about who these generals are. The general who is in charge of the fighting in Pokrovsk is the command of the OTG "Donetsk". At the moment, the Pokrovsk tactical group has already been created there, and the OSGT "Khortytsia" is responsible for organising the fighting. The commanding officer of the OSGT "Khortytsia" is General Hnatov, the OTG "Donetsk" is General Oleksandr Lutsenko, and his deputies are Fedosenko, Marchenko and the chief of staff, the infamous Colonel Ledovyi. Ledovyi, I would like to remind you, has simply failed, a man who has never even commanded a brigade in his life, was appointed as a commander of the OTG "Luhansk". He completely failed to manage the battle there, just a total, complete lie. He was removed from the "Luhansk" OTG and "terribly punished". He was appointed chief of staff at a neighbouring OTG. This is the kind of relationship we have, you know, this nepotism, these clan relations in the Armed Forces, they lead to the fact that it is not clear who is appointed to higher command positions, and then these people are not even punished. And they know that friendly relations with the commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, are basically a cover for everything. This is not just about Syrskyi. I want to say that even under Valerii Zaluzhnyi, unfortunately, let's remember General Zubanych, absolutely people who do not show themselves in any way, incompetently show themselves in command positions, remain in charge. And so it is here. This practice is shameful, no one draws any conclusions, and these leaders continue to hold their positions. And Zubanych, by the way, also continues to hold senior positions after Zaluzhnyi. It's as if there was no Sieverodonetsk, no Lysychansk, no counter-offensive that he failed to lead. Everything remains the same.

So about the generals. The topic of generals was raised by Serhii Filimonov now, and a little earlier, a few days ago, by Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Let's listen to him, quote: "An officer must see a soldier. For me personally, a general who has not been in a trench is not a general. Despite the experience, with all due respect, today the most difficult situation is on the front line. In the trench. For moral stability, to support the military. Do not tell during Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff or report to their command headquarters what is missing. But to communicate directly with the soldiers. That's why Syrskyi, by the way, doesn't leave the frontline, that's why he is constantly travelling. We talk to him every day, twice a day. He has a morning and evening report, but it's still not enough. Generals should be in the trenches. That's the way the war is. The morale of the military is the most important thing. And if, well, it's up to the military to decide, they show it, if their corps system, which they propose today, is to reduce the estimated distance from the general to the soldier, if this bureaucracy is reduced, let them make sure it is reduced."

A lot of controversy arose after these statements by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We know that Zelenskyy is not really aware of the situation at all. And he himself has been to the front at the brigade headquarters twice this year. For the entire 24th year. So, of course, there is no need to say that our Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself understands what is happening. But he has raised a topic that is important to talk about, and which is confirmed by the commander of the 108th Battalion, Filimonov. Generals, the reason for the defeats, poor command and organisation of the troops. This is no longer being said quietly, not to me, a journalist, by unit commanders. And this has already been openly stated by the battalion commander in the area we are talking about. This is where our defences have been broken through, and now there is a threat of losing the entire city of Pokrovsk, even without fighting for the city. Because the enemy will simply surround it and that's it, and cut off the main highway.

Why do we need generals who do not live in the trenches, but at least sometimes try to get to the trenches, is precisely because modern warfare, its tactics, are changing a lot all the time. And drones have changed the situation. Now, for a general to understand what's happening at the front, he needs to get to the trench - that is, to plan an operation to enter the trench. Because now entering a trench is a more risky operation for our soldiers, for our infantry, than staying on the front line. Drones, a large number of drones, surveillance equipment, a large number of sensors on the battlefield, both day and night, make any movement on the front line a very risky operation that needs to be planned. It is no longer necessary to plan exclusively for the defensive battle. A defensive battle begins with the commander determining the routes along which he can safely move his personnel. He covers these routes with engineering structures so that he can hide somewhere during shelling or drone flights. He equips this, provides electronic warfare, provides vehicles, has evacuation teams and various types of evacuation vehicles. Buggies, armoured personnel carriers, cars. In other words, it ensures the work of medics, provides a backup evacuation team that can run out on foot. He plans the time, plans to control the cover and guidance of this group, which is passing from the drone, so that it does not get lost, so that it passes quickly and accurately. He plans fire cover if the enemy notices and tries to hit them. That is, there is a whole a set of engineering support measures, camouflage, support, medical support, evacuation transport, armoured vehicles.

Do our generals have such modern war experience? With all due respect, General Lutsenko is a Hero of Ukraine, Fedosenko is a Hero of Ukraine, and Marchenko was also a brigadier. Ledovyi, fortunately, is not yet a Hero of Ukraine, but I understand that he is very keen to receive this title as well. But the war is changing. What was heroism and right decisions, well, both Lutsenko and Fedosenko often went to the front, to the troops, talked to the soldiers, but when did they go? When they were brigadiers. It was 2022, first of all. When there were manoeuvrable combat operations. Now the situation has changed. The front line is positional. And now to plan the management of troops means to plan how they manoeuvre in defence. A defensive battle begins with building a defensive manoeuvre. And first of all, a logistical manoeuvre. And, of course, if the commander, if our Supreme Commander-in-Chief has not visited the frontline beyond the brigade headquarters for a whole year, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has not visited the brigade headquarters either, he has visited the battalion headquarters a few times a year at most. Commanders of the OTGs do not visit command posts, for example, even the Company Command and Observation Posts. I'm talking about the commanders of perhaps all the OTGs. They do not even reach the company command and observation posts, because this is also a risky story. So, of course, they don't get modern warfare experience. And when they set tasks for their subordinates, unfortunately, this is not taken into account when determining them. I don't want to say now that the main problem is exclusively commanders. The main problem is complex. It is also the command and control of the troops, its construction, and the organisation of the troops is completely inadequate, because the enemy fights in divisions and corps, while we are still fighting in brigades, battalions, and companies. There is also the problem of supply. This is something that Supreme Commander-in-Chief Zelenskyy, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Strategic Industry are responsible for. This is the supply of ammunition, the supply of drones. There is a catastrophic lack of drone supply in this area. I'm just shocked that the leaders are sitting there, Zelenskyy goes to conferences, the Minister of Defence goes to conferences, they go abroad, they look for people and say that there are no people, we are doing everything to find people to join the army. They send people, recruit troops, replenish losses, and then send these people to the front to fight the drone war. Without drones at all - zero. Supply - zero. I believe that these are simply criminal acts. The fact that defective mines are continuing to supply to the front, to this area - Pokrovsk, to mortar batteries, on a massive scale, from the Minister of Strategic Industry Smetanin and Presidential Advisor Kamyshin is a crime. There is no reaction. They continue to supply defective mines to the army. And they sit at conferences, give press releases, and lie all the time. They are just trying to hide their crimes. And then they are shoved into the generals that the generals are all guilty. Generals have their own responsibility, of course. Unfortunately, they are acting in conditions of absolutely inadequate application. And they receive inadequate commands, which they then transmit to their subordinates. They simply turn a blind eye and give their subordinates completely unrealistic tasks. Only one battalion commander in this area spoke openly about this. Well, what can you do? I think the time will come when other commanders will speak out. Because I don't know a single unit commander in the Donetsk OTG who would adequately speak out against the management of the troops in the area. I don't know anyone. I haven't even heard them.

What is happening near Pokrovsk. I'll show you just one map.

I was in the city and I can tell you the situation in one of the areas. So, look, this is the situation that has changed literally in the last two weeks. The enemy's breakthrough came from Selydove. The enemy went straight through, moved forward. They passed through several settlements at once. He entered and occupied the village of Zhovte. Then it moved on to the village of Shevchenko, where there are battles, and Novotroitske. What is the threat? Now we can see the enemy's attack directions. They want to capture Novotroitske completely, they want to capture Shevchenko completely. And between Shevchenko and Novotroitske, they want to get to Pishchane. The situation is outrageous and, of course, requires investigation, at least an after action review. We know that our troop command, our military command, never conducts after action reviews. Sometimes they write reports that do not correspond to the situation at all and are simply imagined by some leaders in Kyiv. The Department of Analysis, Training, the General Staff. They are completely disconnected from reality and such reports, used to cover up their leaders, do not have any authority or respect in the troops.

The enemy entered the village of Zhovte two weeks later. There were practically no serious battles there. Unfortunately, several of our groups of fighters who fought there did their best. It was a counter-attack. Our positions were not occupied by just a few units. Then the enemy moved on to Shevchenko and Novotroitske. The fighting is still going on in these villages. The enemy has captured half of Shevchenko and half of Novotroitske and is now trying to drive a wedge and advance to Pishchane.

What is Shevchenko? There is a spoil heap in the centre of the village. And from this spoil heap, which is the dominant height in the area, it is 8 kilometres to the WOG petrol station at the entrance to Pokrovsk. For drones, it's just an elementary short distance. That is, the Dnipro-Pokrovsk supply route - the main highway. If we lose Shevchenko, it will be intercepted by the enemy and taken over by drones. Further defence of Pokrovsk will be complicated, to put it mildly. In fact, it will mean that it will be very convenient for the enemy to continue to attack, to advance, and to move forward. Because he will be able to destroy our logistics and weaken our defence from the dominant heights. All this happened very instantly, very quickly, very unexpectedly. And there is no one responsible. All the leaders, all the commanders who allowed this to happen are still in their positions.

So, what happened? Formally, this area... Well, let's try, since Volodymyr Zelenskyy demands the truth, to tell you a little bit about what I have learned about the circumstances of what had happened, why the enemy managed to enter so quickly, and what our soldiers are doing now. To begin with, again, before this brief analysis, which may be incomplete, there will be additions. To begin with, I want to remind you of an important quote from Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "Resilience Plan", which requires us to make these details public. I want to emphasise that this is a requirement of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

What he said in his speech:"We should not be afraid to talk about difficult things and problems in our army, because it is our army. Effective solutions are possible only if we have an honest conversation, an open conversation. Problems need to be solved, not concealed. We need to find out the reasons and remove them. Faster. It should have been done yesterday." So, thank you, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych. We will comply, we agree with this your decision and with your words, and we will, of course, now implement this order and analyse the situation. What we know.

So how did this sudden breakthrough happen? It happened that the units of the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade, which includes the same 108th Da Vinci Wolf Battalion, were deployed in this area. The brigade has serious problems, which I have repeatedly spoken about on air. Problems with management, organisation, and recruitment. All the soldiers and commanders of the brigade are aware of these problems, and all the adjacent units that have been constantly attached to the brigade are very well aware of them. So, the tasks assigned to the brigade, given its objective problems, were, to put it mildly, inadequate. That is, the brigade was given a very wide defence strip, and it could not effectively create a density of forces and means in this strip. It was recently redeployed to this strip after the units in Selydove were wiped out.

What is happening here? The troops that defended Selydove were, first of all, the 15th Brigade of the National Guard and its attached units, they were completely worn down and lost their combat capability in the landings in front of the city. There were no serious street battles in the city itself. There was no one to do it because the troops in front of the city had been wiped out. Then again, the troops rolled back behind the city, and the field was open again. Again, they were knocked out because the enemy controls the city's buildings, so it is convenient to operate, convenient to deploy antennas, use drones, artillery, firepower and allow their infantry to accumulate. There are a lot of basements and houses, so the city has not suffered major damage or destruction, as, for example, it is now in Vovchansk or in some parts of Bakhmut. The enemy moved on. It would seem that all the commanders on the ground submitted proposals to the Higher Command, first of all to the OTG Command and the OSGT Command, to retreat to the positions prepared in advance, deploy to convenient lines, do this, roll back some distance, gain a foothold there, deploy their forces and meet the enemy's further offensive. Unfortunately, this did not happen. There is a black line drawn on the map - a mark between Shevchenko and Novotroitske. This black line is our large fortified area, which was prepared in advance for defence and was supposed to cover the approaches. It was very well located, it is in a very dense planting, wide, it is actually a small massif covered by vegetation. And this height, the dominant height over this area, completely covered the approaches to both Novotroitske and Shevchenko. So, friends, what happened? No one gave a timely order to withdraw to this line. Why did this happen? The state built a defence line. I would like to point out that this line was built competently, it is a fortified area. According to all the stories of the commanders on the ground, a significant number of communication routes were even built in this area, and there were a significant number of dugouts. It was a convenient area for manoeuvring in defence, for controlling the area, for effectively conducting combat operations there. It was possible to hide people there and manoeuvre in defence.

What happened was that when the units of the 59th Brigade, still on the way to these positions in the area of Zhovte, had already stretched a narrow line and were unable to hold the enemy. The 59th Brigade, which had been redeployed there from another direction, simply did not have time to deploy its combat formations. The enemy continued to attack, suffered losses, and the large swath of land that the brigade had did not allow it to create a density of troops. As a result, there were large gaps in the defence that enemy infantry groups passed through without a fight. This even led to a loss of understanding of what was happening. There was no control by the OTG "Donetsk" over this situation, over the real combat capability of the brigade, over the real adequacy of the tasks. This is what Filimonov said. His battalion was also in the area. The combat formations were stretched out, there was no density, the enemy was infiltrating, and the map showed a OTG's defence that did not actually exist. This is the same thing - the generals' lack of understanding of the tasks they set for the troops. As a result, the defence of the 59th Brigade was simply conditional in this area. And the enemy actually entered Zhovte without a fight. There was a big gap in the brigade's combat formation. I was told by the brigade headquarters that they had been informed about this. I don't know what the OTG knows. Again, no one knows. No one can explain it now. As a result of these holes in the battle lines, the enemy entered Zhovte without a fight. Then the Russian assault groups moved on in the direction of Novotroitske and Shevchenko. And then they were sent to this direction when the enemy had passed through Zhovte and moved on. Then our military high command realised that something was happening out of control. And now the enemy is going to reach Shevchenko and Novotroitske. That is, it is actually a threat of encirclement, of bypassing Pokrovsk from the south. And additional forces have been deployed there. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief is talking about this and it needs to be said. These are the units of the 32nd Brigade, reinforced. Our command sent people there to replenish the unit on an emergency basis. And the "Skala" assault battalion is working there. There are also some other units, the full complement of troops, I will not go into details now. Let me just say that fresh forces were sent to this area on an emergency basis. But, again, these troops were deployed not when it was needed, but because of lies in the reports, I don't know from what level, but the fact that no general went to the trenches, to the area, is one hundred percent certain. So, as a result of the lies in the reports, these troops were not brought to the defence line in time, to the fortified area between Shevchenko and Novotroitske, which is marked on the map. The 59th Brigade was not reinforced in time. It already has problems in management. Obviously, all the military say that it was not necessary to have such a large strip, it should have been reinforced with other units in time. A brigade cannot manage a large number on a large front. They need to be given a moderate defence line. I don't know who determines this there. Filimonov, who is a commander in this 59th brigade, says so. We need to set tasks according to the forces we have. This has not been done. As a result, the units of the 32nd Brigade rushed into the battle and tried to enter the positions. The "Skala" assault battalion, the 425th battalion, which is a lifesaver in this area of the front, also rushes in. They rush into the battle, but it turns out that they have to engage in a counterattack. Because the enemy has already captured this tactically key fortified area. Without a fight. He entered it before the military command sent at least one person there. As a result, tens of millions were spent. I don't know what the budget is, but a lot of work has been done on the fortifications. The position was chosen correctly, a defence line was prepared, well protected from drones and artillery. And the Ukrainian command gave this fortified area to the Russian troops for free. And the enemy entered it. And then, from this fortified area, taking advantage of the fact that it is just a great area for accumulation and deployment of their troops, Russian assault groups went in three directions.

Let's look at the map again. That's why they left. Here they are coming in from here. To Shevchenko, to Novotroitske, and they are trying to get to Pishchane. Look at this position, which is highlighted in black, the black line on the map, the arrow, the black line, between Shevchenko and Novotroitske. The enemy just came to visit. Taxpayers, thank you. Ukrainian taxpayers chipped in. Ukrainian soldiers, I don't know which organisation it is, they say that it was the State Special Service of Ukraine for Transport, the Ministry of Defence, the Transport Service that built and prepared high-quality positions and as a result of inadequate management decisions for which I can simply say that the OTG "Donetsk" and the OSGT "Khortytsia" are responsible, who simply do not know the situation, perhaps do not communicate with the brigades, do not communicate with the combatants, as we see. The commander of the 108th battalion, who was there, was obviously not asked. They do not even ask, not that they come to the trench, they are not even interested in the opinion of subordinate commanders. As a result, this fortified area was simply given to the Russian occupiers by Ukrainian taxpayers. And the enemy is launching an offensive from there.

They entered Shevchenko, and now, thanks to the soldiers of the 425th "Skala" assault battalion, who are now fighting for Novotroitske and Shevchenko, these villages have been held. These soldiers again entered the battle on the move. They knocked out the enemy from where they had already advanced and entered. And if we hadn't had such assault fighters there, if "Skala" hadn't been a combat-ready unit, we would have lost these two villages. There was simply nothing there that could have stopped the Russian offensive. All this was done again. No planning, no preparation. Forward, forward, without reconnaissance. The 32nd Brigade is entering the line of defence in the same conditions. The men are there. They were not given time to prepare, but they are there. And I want to thank the soldiers of the 32nd Mechanised Brigade, the soldiers of the 425th "Skala" assault battalion, the soldiers of the 155th Mechanised Brigade, some of whose units are also here in the area, for how bravely they are fighting. Yesterday (10 December - ed.), the enemy stormed one of our defence nodes from three directions at one position, and the soldiers of the 32nd Brigade, the 3rd Mechanised Battalion, and the soldiers of the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the 155th Brigade simply repelled these attacks heroically. They even repelled them without drones. There were no drones. It was just a defence node that was built, the correct organisation of the defence node, and echeloned combat formations that allowed us to destroy the enemy with small arms fire. In addition, a group of soldiers from the 155th Brigade launched a counterattack, which helped to knock out the enemy. This is a real feat, close combat. But these close combat battles are difficult, with heavy losses for the Russians, but they are also difficult for us. Because these close battles are not fought in a position fortified in advance, but again, as is always the case with us, the enemy is sitting in our fortified positions, and instead of sending them there in time, the Ukrainian soldiers are fighting a counter-battle in an empty landing with a shovel. That is, our leaders tell us about defence lines in words, but they are rarely built, and even where they are, we do not occupy them with troops. This is just crazy. This is really the problem of the generals, and Filimonov was right to say so. How can this be? You invest huge resources and then waste them, just give them to the enemy. And then people have to fight in the open and demonstrate heroism. And they do. I don't know, unfortunately, we don't have the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Office or the General Staff. Everyone is just shirking their responsibility to influence and solve problems at the front. There are no conclusions, no lessons learned. It is simply impossible to teach them, these leaders. It's all lies, a desire to deliver good news. No one wants to give bad news, that, excuse me, we have a 2 kilometre hole in the battle lines, no one is there. No, everyone is sitting in silence. The brigadier is sitting in silence. Or, I don't know, maybe he's reporting so quietly that he won't be dismissed. The commander of the OTG is sitting in silence, the commander of the OSGT is sitting in silence. Everyone is quiet. Then positions are lost. And what do our generals do? They don't go there to repel them. They pull an assault battalion from another direction, pull a few more battalions from other brigades and tell them to go ahead, plug up, go ahead, in counter-battles. It's crazy, it's a crime. And what kind of losses is this achieved? Has anyone counted? I'm not going to say now, although I know the figures. I want to tell you that for the money that will now have to be paid to the families of the victims, we could have simply bombarded the area with drones. But instead, we are fighting with people. And at a high cost. And then these leaders from above tell us that people don't want to go to the army, we don't have enough people, give us more stormtroopers, infantrymen. So if you, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's office, the Minister of Defence Umierov, who is absent as usual, he does not exist at all. He does nothing, does not interfere, does not go to the front, does not make any decisions. If you do not provide the army with drones, you will never have enough people. Because I want to say that in this area, the enemy has an advantage in drones over the Ukrainian troops. What does it mean to have an advantage in drones? It means an advantage in situational awareness. Reduced losses. Because the Russian infantry and assault groups are walking under drones. Ours do not. And very often, unfortunately, they wander. Because there are no drones. No one gives them. And no one in Kyiv is interested in it. Everything is fine in the office. A driver will take you home. It's very convenient. On Google, on Google. Very convenient. You rode around the city. The driver took you home. It's warm. To bed. You went to bed. Everything is fine. Good mood in the morning. You took a shower. And people are walking around these landings near Shevchenko and Novotroitske without drones. Drones are in short supply. Nobody cares. There are no problems. And they are lying. Lies in the reports. Bottom-up starts after the top demands false, good news. Top demand, are you panicking? We're going to remove you from your posts. A bunch of brigadiers were removed there. Those who report critical news are fired. The commander of the 155th Brigade, Riumshyn, was dismissed. One of the best commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He proved this not in words, but from the beginning of the war he was the commander of a TRO battalion in the south. Then he was already near Avdiivka, he was appointed commander of the 47th "Magura" Brigade. And he proved to be a brilliant commander, according to the feedback from the soldiers of this brigade and their commanders. Now he's been transferred to the 155th and after a week of fighting, this commander is already being removed. Generals are not dismissed, but brigadiers who are thrown into such a mess and disarray. How is this possible? Riumshyn is trying not to lie. He has this flaw for our army, which is very harmful. If you report the true situation, it is considered panicking. But you have to report like this. Everything is fine, everything is under tight control, don't worry. And don't say that something has been lost until the last minute. Then you sit in your position, you are a good person, our guy. You never panic, you never give bad news, because of you, no one asks from the top. The brigade commanders are removed, those who tell the truth, and those who lie and keep silent and say nothing can continue to sit there. This is our management system. And this is the main reason for the loss of a ready-made fortification that taxpayers have invested in. And now Ukrainian soldiers are heroically, without exaggeration, engaged in close combat at a distance of several metres, destroying entire Russian assault groups with machine guns, assault rifles and grenades. Not with drones, because they were not given drones.

If we don't draw any conclusions from what is happening, NATO standards for after action reviews will not be introduced in the army at last, if the Supreme Commander-in-Chief continues to make these false video messages, and in this way he is trying to tell positive news to potential voters, and because of this, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's headquarters does not report the objective situation. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the generals do not report the wrong situation at the headquarters. And who goes to the headquarters? Oleksandr Syrskyi. Is that he who doesn't report? I have this question for Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Who is it at the headquarters from generals that is passing on false information? Do you take any actions against these people who pass on false information to you? No? Unfortunately, we have a very politicised administration. There are bad reviews. The chief of staff of Azov wrote critically about General Sodol. Sodol was dismissed because everyone supported Krotevych, everyone supported Azov. But it's unrealistic to manage a war to wait for some general to be written about on Facebook. It doesn't work that way. It is necessary to introduce adequate criteria for assessing the results of combat operations, the destruction of the enemy on video, our losses, analysis of the loss of positions, and then make adequate decisions. There is no adequate management organisation. The commander is talking about it. And the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is in the clouds. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief office is not working. Where does our General Staff work? Where do the decisions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine work? How does he influence the situation? He doesn't. He has no influence at all. He moves flags on the map. Here is "Skala", storm it, 32nd Brigade, come in. Instead of putting them on the defensive, unrealistic tasks are set, and units are drawn into counterattacks. Is this combat planning? Is this how reserves are adequately used? And then our leaders say that human life is the highest priority there? This is a mess, complete chaos in management. You are responsible for the losses there. Because of your lies. It is the top military political leadership that lies, that does not even try to understand what it is responsible for. It is you who are responsible for these losses in the south, and the advance of the enemy. This is your system, which comes from the office of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, where the troops are required to lie. And they are punished for telling the truth. This is what you are doing.

And here is the situation that is now near Pokrovsk. The enemy is firing on the city, and they also have problems with ammunition. There is no such continuous shelling of the city. A large part of Pokrovsk, like a large part of Selydove, is not destroyed. As well as a large part of Novohrodivka. The enemy is trying to save ammunition, not to get involved in street battles, not to attack the city head-on. That's why they are trying to concentrate and bypass Pokrovsk on a narrow front, to surround it. So if they capture Shevchenko and Novotroitske and enter Pishchane, then Pokrovsk will actually be surrounded. Because the road will be under the control of enemy drones, and there will be convenient positions for the accumulation of troops. And they will easily surround Pokrovsk. And all this is because instead of deploying troops to their positions a week in advance, they wait until the last minute, lie about everything being fine, and then throw troops into counter-battles in the landings instead of defending. In positions that the enemy has already captured. I see that it is impossible to teach these people. They don't learn, they don't want to admit any mistakes, they want to record beautiful videos all the time. They don't care that later, because of these false reports, videos, someone, a large number of people, in the cold, in the wind, goes to absolutely empty places in the landings with shovels, buries themselves and does everything to stop the Russian offensive. And there are such soldiers in Ukraine. And I want to thank the soldiers of the 32nd Mechanised Brigade, 155th Mechanised Brigade, and especially the soldiers of the 425th "Skala" Assault Battalion, who are now urgently closing this unexpected breakthrough, again, for the Ukrainian command. With their heroism and their lives.

I think so, our government responds only to public pressure. There is no other way. Now we are going to send a number of drones to the units that are in this area, and people from other units are also asking for them, to collect a number of drones through people's efforts, to report the situation from there, but in general, I believe that our society should demand changes in military management from the authorities. It is outdated, incompetent and inadequate. If we don't apply the US Army's 25-20 standard, i.e. After Action Review, we will not develop. We do not learn, we repeat the same mistake one after another. Near Bakhmut, defence areas were surrendered simply without a fight, because the troops were ground down in the landings and did not occupy the advantageous borders. Near Sieverodonetsk, near Lysychansk, the same mistakes were made. Near Avdiivka. Remember how many times the top military and political leadership told us that the troops from Avdiivka would withdraw to favourable positions. And now they have withdrawn, already beyond Selydove, to favourable so-called positions. They withdrew from Avdiivka, 38 kilometres away, into a bare landing near Pokrovsk. Into a bare landing again. Because the positions were surrendered to the enemy.

The situation is critical, and we need to make every effort to ensure that our troops go to the frontline under the protection of drones. We need to have night mavics to monitor the enemy's movements at night. We need to have enough mavics-autels. To monitor and intercept enemy drones that are making drops. To look for enemy infantry on the approaches. And thus fight with equipment, not people with machine guns, heroes. And we are losing them. Because we are losing them because of the indifference of those who make decisions. Indifference and stupidity. And unwillingness to learn.

That's why I'm doing this broadcast because, first of all, it's envisaged by Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "Resilience Plan". He himself demands to talk about problems. And I am grateful to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for this, because it is the right approach. But beyond words, we will create public opinion for changes in the army. We need an after-action analysis. This is a critical, key demand of civil society, which the military and political leadership, despite the fact that they do not understand anything, must take.

This topic of the battles for Pokrovsk will now be thoroughly investigated. Pokrovsk is the gateway to central Ukraine, to the Dnipropetrovsk region. We must not surrender our cities. And especially not to lose people who are fighting for these cities.

Thank you for your support, for the donation for the drones, which will now be implemented. In the near future, these drones will be sent to our units, which you, the viewers and readers, have raised. Glory to Ukraine!