The situation around Ugledar remains tense. The Russians continue to send their elite troops there, because the settlement is very important for them.
Fortunately, the enemy has not been able to capture the city yet. Now all attacks are actually repelled, although fierce battles for the city continue. About this Channel 24 said the military observer Denis Popovich.According to Popovich, if the Russians accept Ugledar, a direct route to Marinka will open for them. It is enough to look at the map to be convinced of this. “There is a direct road there. If they advance to Marinka, they can threaten the entire fortified area that holds the Donbass road,” the military observer notes.
Bakhmut is located to the north, and Ugledar is to the south. Thus, Popovich notes, we can find ourselves in a very serious situation, and we will have to make a lot of efforts to defend this area.
The invaders can count on success
- At the end of January, the invaders resumed offensive operations near Ugledar. The city is strategically important for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because it can become a springboard for the further advancement of the Ukrainian army. The occupiers understand this and are trying to prevent Ukraine from resuming the initiative.
- The occupiers resumed active ground offensive operations before a possible new large-scale offensive in Donbas. Back in late 2022, the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said that Russian troops were concentrating their main efforts on capturing this region.
- The purpose of such attacks on Vuhledar, as well as the settlements of Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, may be to disperse the Ukrainian military and create conditions for a Russian offensive in the west of the Lugansk region. Currently, Russian troops are conducting a large-scale offensive operation in the Bakhmut direction, and a defensive operation on the Svatovo-Kremennaya line.
- It is interesting that the occupiers have already tried to carry out active offensive operations in the Ugledar region before. However, their attempts at the end of October 2022 were unsuccessful. At the beginning of 2023, they can plan to advance from their positions to the borders of the Donetsk region. At the same time, along several independent directions of advance.
- The ISW suggests that the invaders want to carry out several stages of offensive operations, culminating in the capture of the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to experts, such an operation will require from 6 to 12 months of the campaign. However, analysts doubt that such a venture is even possible.
