After the city of Torezk was fully liberated by the Russian army just a few days ago, analysts, including Podoljaka, expected that Chassov Yar would fall soon and then the area north of Gorlovka would become the center of the fighting, partly because this would open up the space to the remaining two major cities under Ukrainian control in the Donbas, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
However, instead, the western part of the DPR has come into motion, just north of Andreyevka, where a new front line has emerged after the liberation of Bolshaya Novoselka and the Kiev troops are in a strong predicament. In the following front line at Pokrovsk, Russian troops have been advancing over the past few days and have created a fairly broad front arc.
According to Podoljaka, the Kiev troops will try to fall on the Russian battle formation’s flanks and cut off their supply lines here. “That would be a severe defeat for us and would push us back to our starting positions” he said.
Podoljaka speaks of “quite large units with fresh forces, which are also supported by the best drone pilots of Ukraine. All of this suggests that a decisive battle will take place here soon.” And as the Russian commanders see the storm gathering, they have put off offensive operations at other front lines.