According to Andriy Yusov, the representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), the criminal army of the Russian Federation has concentrated about 550,000 soldiers in the occupied Ukrainian territories and near the Ukrainian border.
Points of attention
- The total number of military personnel of the Russian army in the occupied territories of Ukraine and near the border is about 550,000 people, according to the DIU.
- The Ukrainian military on the front lines constantly experienced a shortage of artillery ammunition compared to the Russian army.
- The military noted the effective use of European and American ammunition and FPV drones at the front.
- The details of the events in the Robotyneregion's Zaporizhzhia region and the difficulty of maintaining the defence due to a lack of resources have been revealed.
- The military man shares his experience and makes cursory comments about the Russian occupiers and the circumstances of military operations.
What does DIU say about the Russian concentration in the occupied territories and near Ukraine's border
According to Yusov, the information about the concentration of about 550,000 soldiers of the criminal army of the Russian Federation in the occupied Ukrainian territories and near the border is not new.
It has been stable for several months and includes various units, including the so-called Russian Guard, units of the FSB, and special services, which are focused on the occupied territories in order to control events in the occupied cities and the local population, — emphasised the DIU rep.
The other day, several mass media, regarding the DIU, stated that Russia is keeping about 550,000 occupiers near the Ukrainian borders and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
What is known about the situation in the Robotyne area in the Zaporizhzhia region
According to Deputy Commander of the AFU 65th Separated Mechanised Brigade Taras Mykhalchuk in an interview with "Ukrainska Pravda", the Russian occupiers destroyed the settlement.
I won't say from which side I have Robotyne, but it is nearby. Although... there is no settlement as such, it is there: it is just a straight plot — you can plow a field on it. We keep our defense in the trenches, there are no more houses as such. And once there was a school here, up to a hundred houses, there was no church, it is in Novopokrovka, where the enemy is now. Such a small village. Robotyne is not captured, it is in the "grey zone", there are both our forces and theirs, — the military explains the situation.
According to him, Robotina entered the so-called "grey zone" last week.
Mykhalchuk emphasised that this situation arose due to the Ukrainian military's acute shortage of artillery ammunition.
If there is no artillery, what do we defend ourselves with? Live power, people. Everything rests on the lack of strength and means. Plus this clowning on TV — "in two weeks we will be in Crimea", propaganda of evasion. You know, it's as if someone is doing it on purpose so that people don't go to defend Ukraine, but somewhere in the back of their mind they dress up in embroidered clothes and say "I'm Ukrainian" under 100 grams. Even the heart bleeds. Because of this, we don't have replenishment, and people get wounded, die, it's just hard for them, they've been fighting for two years. Somehow, emphasises the military serviceman.
According to him, the Ukrainian military on the front line is constantly experiencing a shortage of ammunition.
If the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired ten shells, the Russian army responded with 100, 150, and 200.
He noted that everything depends on the day when the 120th mortar can fire one or more mines.
Now the situation has become a little better, there are ten for one mortar, and 20. But, unlike the Muscovites, I cannot afford 100 shells per day for one mortar. So today we were stormed — every day there are storms — we shot 15. Like that. The 82nd mortar, for example, is nothing at all. It can only be fired at a large mass of infantry, but it is inaccurate. To shoot at a mass of infantry, you need several mortars at once — three, four, five. But the 120th is better, more accurate and more effective, Mykhalchuk emphasised.
In addition, as the serviceman says, the Defense Forces use European and American ammunition at the front.
He added that FPV drones are currently very effective.
At the same time, Mykhalchuk mentioned that the Armed Forces of Ukraine's offensive on the Robotyne ledge began in 2023.
It was June, our 65th and 47th brigades started it, the legendary "Magura" quickly lost its ability to advance. So much has been mined here, so many kilometers have been dug, defense structures, DOTs, dugouts, "dragon's teeth" — and all this before the "Surovikin line". You walk along the path: a step to the left, a step to the right — you explode. I did not think that there would be an offensive here, I thought that there would be a demonstration diversionary maneuver, as we did in 2022, when there was an offensive on Kharkiv and Kherson. And no, they really went here, and it was terrible! — recalls the military man.
He emphasised that in addition to mines, each landing had ATGMs.
It was simply suicide, due to continuous mining, to go into frontal attacks on the landings, which the Russians turned into echeloned fortified areas. I did not understand how it was possible to pass there! Why? Because I already had the assault on Nesteryanka in August-September 2022 behind me, and there I had only one car to reach full contact with fifteen M-113 armored personnel carriers! The rest blew up in minefields. And this is not 2023, but 2022, says Mykhalchuk.
He added that in such cases, fighting with equipment is impossible.
"And when "Magura" left — I watched two assaults — they were just frontal attacks with equipment," Mikhalchuk said.
According to him, most likely, the top management did not know that the path to Robotyn was so mined.
Colonels and generals came to me, I showed them everything, told them that I was not going to lie. That at that point, instead of a platoon support point, where there should be 30 people, there are four. The commanders imagined that they had companies, battalions there, but this was not the case at all, — emphasised the military man.
