Reflecting on the disastrous 2023 summer offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, by way of an apparent excuse, that Russians also didn\u2019t fare well, and \u2018failed to capture any settlements this year\u2019.<\/p>\n
Like so many things the \u2018defender of democracy\u2019 says, this is far from true.<\/p>\n
While it is indeed true that most of the year was spent in positional battles, in a \u2018war of attrition\u2019 along the 600 mile long frontline, Russian forces had successes in various places and took quite a few settlements and towns \u2013 including winning the longest and bloodiest siege since the Second World War.<\/p>\n
Soledar.<\/p>\n
2023 began with increased activity in the Donetsk Oblast, most specially in the frontline settlement of Soledar, <\/strong>which literally means \u2018a gift of salt\u2019 in Russian, reflecting its prominent salt-mining industry.<\/p>\n American Think Tank ISW<\/a> reported in its inimitable coping fashion:<\/p>\n \u201cRussian forces\u2019 likely capture of Soledar on January 11 is not an operationally significant development and is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.<\/em><\/p>\n Geolocated footage posted on January 11 and 12 indicates that Russian forces likely control most if not all of Soledar, and have likely pushed Ukrainian forces out of the western outskirts of the settlement.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Every western source will downplay the settlements that Russia conquer as \u2018meaningless piles of rubble\u2019, while treating the few villages Ukraine took like Rabotyno, as if it\u2019s Paris.<\/p>\n Read: A Soldier\u2019s Death: Final Message in the Wall by Ambushed Russian Fighter Goes Viral<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Russian military bloggers posted footage on January 12 of Wagner Group fighters freely walking in Soledar alongside Russian forces. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov congratulated Russian forces for successful offensive operations in the settlement.<\/p>\n Bakhmut.<\/p>\n Next, the luminaries at ISW, that include former CIA Director General David Petraeus, make their informed prediction:<\/p>\n \u201cRussian information operations have overexaggerated the importance of Soledar, which is at best a Russian Pyrrhic tactical victory. ISW continues to assess that the capture of Soledar\u2014a settlement smaller than 5.5 square miles\u2014will not enable Russian forces to exert control over critical Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) into Bakhmut nor better position Russian forces to encircle the city in the short term.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n WRONG. That was exactly what happened, as Russian forces geared for the bloodiest battle since \u2018The Patriotic War\u2019 against the Nazis.<\/p>\n Read: <\/strong>\u2018Bakhmut Has Fallen!\u2019 \u2013 Russian Forces on the Brink of Capturing Strategic Donbas City \u2013 Ukrainians Control Half a Square Mile \u2013 Last Stronghold Under Heavy Attack<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n In March, as the cauldron began to encircle the city, I wrote here on TGP<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Battle for\u00a0Bakhmut\/Artyomovsk<\/strong>\u00a0has been widely considered one of the toughest since the Second World War. So bloody has it been, that terms like \u2018meat grinder\u2019 and \u2018vortex\u2019 are applied to it daily.<\/em><\/p>\n Artyomovsk<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Russian name) is an important city in the Donbas, the Russian-speaking region comprised of the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts (states). The defense of the ethnic Russians in this region was one of the primary objectives of Putin in his\u00a0<\/em>Special Military Operation<\/em>, so the capture of this key regional logistics and transport hub is crucial to the Russian plans of\u00a0<\/em>liberating<\/em>\u00a0the areas of Donetsk Oblast still under Kiev\u2019s control.<\/em><\/p>\n While US and UK officials have, as of late, tried to downplay the strategic importance of\u00a0Bakhmut<\/strong>\u00a0(Ukrainian name), deeming it to be merely \u2018symbolic\u2019, Ukrainian president Zelensky stated that a loss in Bakhmut would mean an open road for Russian forced to attack other important cities in Eastern Ukraine.<\/em><\/p>\n As for the symbolic value of Bakhmut, Zelensky called it the\u00a0\u2018the fortress of our morale\u2019, so it\u2019s understandable that he and his Generals may have chosen to defend it to the end, rather than retreat their overwhelmed troops while they still could. But \u2018the end\u2019 appears to be nearing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In May, finally, Al Jazeera<\/a> reported;<\/p>\n \u201cRussia has claimed to have fully captured Ukraine\u2019s Bakhmut, with President Vladimir Putin congratulating his troops and the mercenary Wagner Group for taking the largely levelled eastern city.<\/em><\/p>\n The Russian announcement on Saturday came hours after Kyiv said the battle was still continuing while admitting the situation was \u201ccritical\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n Bakhmut, a salt-mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Russia\u2019s 15-month war in Ukraine.<\/em><\/p>\n [\u2026] Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate the city\u201d, the TASS state news agency quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s victory was not to be followed by a big offensive, but rather, Russians dug in and prepared formidable defensive fortifications and minefields that Ukraine just could not overtake on its Summer offensive, no matter how much military aid the West threw at it.<\/p>\n Read: <\/strong>Russian Forces Break Through in Northern Kharkov Region, Heading for Logistics Hub Kupyansk \u2013 Ukrainians Order Evacuation of Dozens of Settlements in the Region<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Outskirts of Kupiansk.<\/p>\n The Russian \u2018Active defense\u2019 doctrine does not preclude the troops from exploiting opportunities that present themselves, and so it surfaced in August a TASS report<\/a> that \u201cthe territory of the Kharkiv region, controlled by Russian forces, has grown by five settlements in a week \u2013 up to 33 settlements. This was announced by the head of the military-civilian administration of the Kharkiv region Vitaly Ganchev on the air of Soloviev.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Russians forces spread through the Northern Ukrainian region and reached the outskirts of Kupyansk. The situation became so grave that widespread evacuation was implemented.<\/p>\n Associated Press<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0reported on August 10th:<\/p>\n \u201cUkrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line.<\/em><\/p>\n The local military administration in Kharkiv\u2019s Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar had\u00a0said the previous day\u00a0that \u201cthe intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high\u201d in the area.<\/em><\/p>\n The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that\u00a0dislodged the Kremlin\u2019s forces\u00a0from nearly the entire Kharkiv region.<\/em><\/p>\n Fighting for Khoromov.<\/p>\n Come November, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of Artemovskoye (Khromove) in the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n Khromove is a small village on the outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region.<\/p>\n The Moscow Times<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n \u201cTroops, supported by aviation and artillery fire, improved their positions along the front line and liberated the village of Artemovskoye,\u201d Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said in a daily briefing, referring to the village by a previous version of its name.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Russia is probing weaknesses up and down the frontline in Donetsk region that Russia annexed last year.<\/p>\n Moscow still does not have full control over the region.<\/p>\n Read: <\/strong>Russian Forces Take Heavily Fortified Town of Maryinka in Biggest Triumph Since Bakhmut<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The year is ending on an upbeat note for the Russian Federation troops that have just conquered the heavily fortified town of Maryinka, in the outskirts of Donetsk city.<\/strong><\/p>\n Entering Maryinka.<\/p>\n This is a major development, the biggest since Moscow troops regained the initiative, and also the greatest achievement since they gained control of Avdiivka (Bakhmut) in May.<\/p>\n Read: <\/strong>Siege of Avdiivka \u2013 WATCH: Russian Tank Forces Kiev\u2019s Troops to Retreat \u2013 Female Ukrainian Soldier Terrified in the Trenches \u2013 Moscow Now Also Blasting Cluster Munitions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n By taking Maryinka, the Russians have significantly pushed back the Ukrainian artillery. For years, Kiev used Maryinka has a key launching pad for drone and artillery strikes against civilians in Donetsk.<\/p>\n Reuters<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0reported:<\/p>\n \u201cPutin said control of the town, which was once home to 10,000 people, will allow the Russian forces to move enemy combat units away from Donetsk.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2018Our troops (now) have the opportunity to reach a wider operational area\u2019, he said in a video of the exchange between him and Shoigu posted online by a Kremlin journalist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n President Putin as reported on Sputnik<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to congratulate you. This is a success. Pass on the words of gratitude to all the staff and fighters who took part at different times and at different stages [of the liberation].\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Troops from the 150th Motorized Rifle Division distinguished themselves in the settlement\u2019s capture. That\u2019s the same legendary Division which famously captured the Reichstag building in Berlin in WW2.<\/p>\n Read:\u00a0<\/strong>Russians Are Advancing \u2018On All Sides\u2019! Watch: Victory Banner Flies Over Maryinka \u2013 Missiles at Tunnels Under Coke Plant in Avdiivka \u2013 Su-25 Aircraft Blasted by Lancet Drone<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 2023 is ending, but the war is far from it.<\/p>\n Heavily fortified and highly strategic town of Avdiivka is semi-encircled by Russian forces, and openly rebellious Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny has stated that it may fall in two months, unless the international aid flows again.<\/p>\n So, when Ukraine\u2019s Zelensky says Russians have not conquered any settlements this year, we respectfully beg to differ.<\/p>\n Never-ending Ukrainian cemeteries.<\/p>\n The \u2018war of attrition\u2019 doctrine focuses not so much in territorial conquest, as in the relentless degrading of the enemy capabilities, to the point where it becomes so weakened as to propitiate unstoppable offensive actions.<\/p>\n In this sense, the great victory for Russia was its defense of the Ukrainian summer offensive, where wave after wave of NATO equipped and trained fighters were slaughtered without resulting in any meaningful advances.<\/p>\n Now, as Kiev mobilizes the old, the infirm and even women, and the super military aid packages are in the past, we may start to see how the attrition warfare unfolds.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mainstream Media Bitterly Comes to Terms With Vladimir Putin\u2019s Successes in the Ukraine War<\/a><\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Soledar, Bakhmut, Khoromov, Maryinka: The Settlements Conquered by Russians in 2023, as the \u2018War of Attrition\u2019 Intensifies<\/a> appeared first on The Gateway Pundit<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reflecting on the disastrous 2023 summer offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, by way of an apparent excuse,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n