Russian army advances slowly in Donbas - British intelligence

The Russian army continues to seize settlements in the Donbas. The pace of the offensive is slowly but gradually increasing.

This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense on X (Twitter).

As noted in the report, on April 22, the Russian military ministry said that its forces had captured the village of Novomykhailivka, located south of Maryinka and northeast of Vuhledar, Donetsk region.

"Novomykhailivka has limited military and strategic importance but lies on roads to further settlements that straddle both sides of the Sukhiy Yaly river in southern Donetsk," the statement said.

Russian troops entered the city on February 9 and reached the city center by March 24. Earlier, the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade "Tavria" reported that the Russian army needed 30,000 troops to do this, and lost 300 pieces of equipment in six months of fighting on the outskirts of the city.

According to British intelligence, it took 73 days for Russian troops to enter and capture the village (a total distance of less than 5 km). This happened with the help of additional operational reserves. This demonstrates the slow but steady progress that Russian troops are making.

"On this axis, Russian forces will likely seek to advance towards the town of Kostyantynivka, 2 km west of Novomykhailivka. Further advances north of Vuhledar could eventually allow Vuhledar’s defenses to be bypassed. Those defenses have caused extremely high casualties among Russian ground forces," the British Ministry of Defense said.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 23/04/2024