Ukraine is at risk of losing a whopping strategic 11 cities virtually all at the same time (excluding Pavlograd and Izyum)!
There's serious threat of losing all of Zaporizhzhia oblast now because key strategic cities like Stepnohirsk, Orkhiv, Huliyapole, and Pokrovskoe are at risk of encirclement. Once these three cities have fallen, what is left but Zaporizhzhia city itself? That's the city with the nuclear power plant btw!
In Dnipro oblast, we are seeing the fall of Novopavlika, which is another immensely important strategic city. One Ukrainian commander mentioned that loss of this stronghold is all that stands between Russian forces and Pavlograd up north because there are so few fortifications and brigades here. Its all open for the taking.
And why is Pavlograd so crtical for Russia? Look at the map! It sits diagonally between Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk so if Russia takes Pavlograd and then Lozova to the north of it, it will have succeeded in encircling and bypassing Ukrainian defenses situated in the crown jewel fortifications of the Donetsk which are Slovyansk and Kramatorsk!
Taking these two fortress cities would result in complete capture of the Donbass which is one of the key objectives of the Russian Special Military Operation. It would be a terrific triumph of Russian will against Western dominance because the Donetsk region is the most densely fortified defense network there is. Victory here would give Russia confidence that it can then project its power deep into the heart of Ukraine towards Sumy, Poltavka, and Kharkhiv, thereby threatening Ukrainian statehood itself.
In the north, fall of Siversk, Lyman, and Kupiyansk up north threatens to bring about an encirclement of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, which would be terrible for Ukrainians if that's coupled with the fall of Pavlograd and Lozova as I mentioned above. In fact, this is the greater and broader strategic goal of the Russian army: to bypass Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantinivka.
Its been a slow, methodical, and attritional grind, with the goal of Russia's offensive this year just being the taking of Pokvrovsk and Kostyantinivka itself, but now, with so many Ukrainians genocided, the Russian advances have been coming at greater and greater pace and intensity. Ukrainians are stretched too thin across the frontline and have hence proved incapable against Russia's Mad Max style biker crew of stormers who are backed up by Russia's tremendously fast growing drone capability.
There's serious threat of losing all of Zaporizhzhia oblast now because key strategic cities like Stepnohirsk, Orkhiv, Huliyapole, and Pokrovskoe are at risk of encirclement. Once these three cities have fallen, what is left but Zaporizhzhia city itself? That's the city with the nuclear power plant btw!
In Dnipro oblast, we are seeing the fall of Novopavlika, which is another immensely important strategic city. One Ukrainian commander mentioned that loss of this stronghold is all that stands between Russian forces and Pavlograd up north because there are so few fortifications and brigades here. Its all open for the taking.
And why is Pavlograd so crtical for Russia? Look at the map! It sits diagonally between Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk so if Russia takes Pavlograd and then Lozova to the north of it, it will have succeeded in encircling and bypassing Ukrainian defenses situated in the crown jewel fortifications of the Donetsk which are Slovyansk and Kramatorsk!
Taking these two fortress cities would result in complete capture of the Donbass which is one of the key objectives of the Russian Special Military Operation. It would be a terrific triumph of Russian will against Western dominance because the Donetsk region is the most densely fortified defense network there is. Victory here would give Russia confidence that it can then project its power deep into the heart of Ukraine towards Sumy, Poltavka, and Kharkhiv, thereby threatening Ukrainian statehood itself.
In the north, fall of Siversk, Lyman, and Kupiyansk up north threatens to bring about an encirclement of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, which would be terrible for Ukrainians if that's coupled with the fall of Pavlograd and Lozova as I mentioned above. In fact, this is the greater and broader strategic goal of the Russian army: to bypass Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantinivka.
Its been a slow, methodical, and attritional grind, with the goal of Russia's offensive this year just being the taking of Pokvrovsk and Kostyantinivka itself, but now, with so many Ukrainians genocided, the Russian advances have been coming at greater and greater pace and intensity. Ukrainians are stretched too thin across the frontline and have hence proved incapable against Russia's Mad Max style biker crew of stormers who are backed up by Russia's tremendously fast growing drone capability.
