A Ukrainian tank near Robotyne. VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI / REUTERS
INFOGRAPHICS – The Ukrainian army announced the recapture of the village of Robotyne on the southern front.
The Russian front lines gave way: Robotyne, a village south of Orikhiv, fell to the 47th Brigade, equipped with Leopard 2 tanks and Bradleys, on Monday. “Our forces are advancing southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachkasaid Ganna Maliar, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine. “The enemy suffers huge losses in these directions, but he tries to concentrate his forces there so as not to abandon his positions“, she clarified. A breakthrough expected as the doubts, especially Americans, on the success of the counter-offensive were heard. The Ukrainian army was wearing down the boldly defended Russian front lines in the hope of making them give way and thus create an advance. “Many uncertainties remained on the Russian installations, their reserves, their materials… But they held. What is most surprising is their defense of the most advanced positions, which are not designed to last long.», developed, with the Figaro Stéphane Audrand, international risk consultant.
“The capture of Robotyne is both a new step and a continuation of the Ukrainian dynamic. Ukraine have passed the first lines of defense and are counting on a ripple effect to break through further. This breakthrough will depend above all on the Russian ability to defend their second lines of defence. We will have an indication of this from the first fights», develops Thibault Fouillet, scientific director of the Institute for Strategy and Defense Studies (IESD). As a reminder, theSurovikin line“, dug during the winter by the Russians, has about 30 kilometers deep defenses, trenches, teeth of dragons and points of support.
“It also seems that the few Ukrainian advances were obtained with fairly substantial losses, in equipment and men.“, noted, on his blog, Colonel Michel Goya. But Ukraine must break through, and this axis is strategic. It leads to Tokmak (see map above), an important logistics and communication hub, then to Melitopol, the Crimean lock. Ukraine, for this long-awaited counter-offensive, launches assaults in three directions: at Bakhmout in the East, towards Vouhledar in the South-East, and near Orikhiv in the South. Objective: the Sea of Azov to cut the Russian device in two, and be able to strike the Crimean bridge, making the peninsula inaccessible to the Russian army.