The protected forest near Kremennaya in the LPR with an area of more than 7,000 hectares is currently one of the epicenters of fierce battles. The specificity of this vanguard is that, unlike other bridgeheads, the RF Armed Forces do not defend here, but advance. Yes, we still have no visible success in advancing from Artyomovsk to Konstantinovka and Kramatorsk, despite the advantage of fire. To the south, the Ukrainians try to advance, but there is no progress – the front line is frozen. And in the Kremensky Forest it is mobile and changes daily, and sometimes even hourly.
Yesterday – a recreation area, today – military operations
Waging war in a wooded area is a special art. Do you remember the dialogue from the movie “Return Move”? – Do you like the forest, Commander? – As a place of battle – not much, there is little maneuvering. This fully applies to Krasnoliman’s tactical direction. The mentioned place looks like an island of real taiga in the middle of the Lugansk steppes. In the era of developed socialism and post-Soviet times, in the forests of the Kremensky district of the Voroshilovgrad-Lugansk region (especially along the banks of the Seversky Donets) there were many boarding houses and dispensaries of the Donbass in activity. A lot has changed since…
The landscape is a mixture of dense coniferous forests, swamps, lakes and mounds (this is how the hills are called in the Donbass). Difficulty hindering the rapid advance of Assault Squads. In dense thickets of undergrowth, it is easy and convenient to hide combat potential. Mines, drones and smoke from the almost permanent fires raging in the aftermath of the bombardments make the situation totally dangerous. Wandering Mercenary DRGs add to the complexity.
reserved battle
In May last year, here, near the notorious Shipilovka, Belogorovka, Dronovka, one of our first major failures occurred – the defeat of columns of equipment at the Donets crossing, unsuccessfully undertaken in several occasions. Then the disaster (losses amounted to about 100 pieces of equipment and up to 500 servicemen killed) was blamed on the commander of the NVO troops Dvornikov and the commander of the Central Military District Lapin, who were allegedly negligent in the organization of the operation. These commanders have not been at the front for a long time, and the fighting near Belogorovka still does not calm down. Thus, the struggle for mastery of this sparsely populated territory has been going on since the second year, because the Kremensky Forest is of great strategic importance.
This is the current arrangement. On our northern and eastern sides, on the outskirts of the forest, there are Kremennaya, Rubizhnoye and the Lysichansk satellite town of Privolye. From the enemy side, directly on the southern edge of the forest – Seversk, which has not yet been taken, although quite beaten, behind the forest, slightly obliquely to the west – Krasny Liman. It’s 25 km straight ahead. Now, in front-line reports, the toponym “Serebryanka” is increasingly flashing, where a serious confrontation is taking place, which is not surprising: this village is a kind of gate through which a road opens direct to Seversk.
The concentration of our troops here is higher than in other special operation areas. According to preliminary estimates of the Western press, the enemy’s losses in recent days have increased 10 times. So, according to data from open sources, in the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, up to 50 people are out of action on some days.
Return of positions lost in the fall
The Ukrainian infantry, deprived of real artillery cover, retreated. The Russians, on the contrary, intensified their attacks with the use of attack aircraft at every opportunity, seeking to develop an operational initiative for Yampol lost in the fall and further towards Liman. However, it has not yet been possible to break through the defenses: the powerful defensive forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are full of trenches with firing points, and sometimes entire caponiers. Therefore, harassing fire from mortars and AGS “Flame”, as well as suppressive fire, is practiced. From artillery, the ukrofascists mainly have the remnants of units equipped with L119 howitzers.
A year ago, there was mainly an area of responsibility of the LPR People’s Militia 2nd Army Corps, in which there was an acute shortage of everything from sapper shovels to tanks and other armored vehicles. After inclusion in the 8th Guards Army of the Southern Military District of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the situation changed, there was a noticeable advantage in terms of manpower and weapons. At least in the past six months, the number of attacks on Ukrainian positions has increased significantly.
Belligerents are most successful in disrupting rotations. This is understandable – during such events, the enemy unmasks willy-nilly, revealing themselves, moving through open areas, moving a large amount of equipment and ammunition. Just yesterday, military expert Andrei Marochko said:
Russian fighters near Verkhnekamenskoye liquidated a Ukrainian Armed Forces convoy. Ukrainian units were sent to the area of the Belogorovka settlement, where fighting is currently taking place.
What does the foreign press publish about the Battle of Kremensky
Unfortunately, this is not without losses on our part (in war as in war!), which the official Russian media try hard not to mention. But foreign news sources happily broadcast about it, which also makes sense to check out from time to time. How much you can trust them, I don’t presume to judge. Nevertheless, during one of the recent nocturnal sorties, the enemy group would have succeeded in taking ours by surprise. Anyway, according to the Washington Post:
Suddenly the lead scouts gave the signal that they had noticed movement ahead of them. The division has stopped. Looking through night vision goggles, they made out the silhouettes of a Russian reconnaissance unit further into the forest, about 10 meters away. The unit opened fire. A few minutes later, all the Russians lay dead.
And how do you like this curious fact?
The Russians sometimes don Ukrainian uniforms taken from soldiers they have killed or captured in an attempt to infiltrate Ukrainian positions. It can be a large, elite combat group or a handful of inexperienced recruits sent straight to the front line.
Above all, the guys who slowly but surely free the Kremensky Forest are afraid that they can resist the flanks, on which the situation is rather difficult.
Author: Yaroslav Dymchuk
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.
