Boiling Point
On the situation in the Southern Donbass.
1. The South Cauldron is in its last few hours of existence and the boiling point was reached there when everything that couldn't flee into Russia or break to their own will be cooked. Yesterday after an unblocking attack from outside, the remains of the encircled brigades after gathering an armor group and abandoning everything that couldn't be evacuated from the cauldron, rushed to break towards Minusinsk, where fighting unfolded, during which the town passed from side to side. The militia tried to push the breaking enemy to the North-East of Minusinsk, in order to not let it merge with the unblocking group that was advancing North of Yenakiyevo through Orlovka. At this time fighting continues. The junta is trying to use the break from encirclement in order to cut the militia communications with Donetsk. The DPR leadership understands this, and so since yesterday head-on fighting was going on there, which continued today. The result of this fighting will have operational significance. The situation there is difficult, because there is no clear front line there and the sides maneuver with their reserves solving their tasks - the junta is pulling the remains of the encircled brigades and at the same time tries to keep control over Miusinsk, the militia tries to clear the junta from Miusinsk and to setup a new cauldron for the retreating units.
Regarding Panteleymonovka, then in the forum where Strelkov wrote earlier they announce that it is under the militia control, even though yesterday it was announced that it was abandoned. Apparently, there is fighting and this settlement is also passing from side to side, like Miusinsk.
And here is the description of a breakthrough from the cauldron. So to speak, from the heat of the moment in the hot South cauldron.
Translation:
The most fucked up phone call in my life.
Petyunya, Lyosha, Seryoga, Oleg, and other residents of Odessa are alive.
A lot of dead among the border guards from Belgorod-Dnestrovsk, Mogilev-Podolsk, a pile of dead paratroopers from Nikolayev, from the 24-th. This is a result of our retreat from the border. Over two days there were so many dead and wounded that there weren't as many over the 42 days of being present at the positions. Many remained there, among the sunflowers, on the roads...
Now they are on the field base of the AFU, refueling the vehicles, and then rush forward, to Odessa.
The operation for securing the border failed gloriously, it brought a pile of victims and minimum gain. Everything was OK up until Russia didn't hit our people from its own territory.
90% of vehicles of the whole group of our security people near the border were burned, hundreds of guys perished...
Everybody who survived took off the border, the paratroopers, the artillerists, the motorized infantrymen, the border guards. They didn't take off on their own and without any conscious plan went "home". Essentially, nobody was commanding the retreat, we just drove forward... Retreated on vehicles which are hundred times broken: APCs with dead transmissions, Gazelles, UAZs, Shishigas. Those who were on URALs, decent APCs, and KAMAZs got lucky. If a car dies - immediately corpses and wounded.
The boys cried on the phone... Cried from shame, cried for those who remained lying there in the fields... and stopping to take them meant death.
They resented that they are being shot at, the vehicles are burned, but they cannot respond, it is another country there.
Our people from Odessa became huge friends with the AA crew of the 24-th... all of the latter perished.
Petya says:
"- I will never forget how, when we rush on all axes, and from the neighboring territory they fuck us with Grads and howitzers. We rush on the dead shishiga, and among sunflowers a hand is sticking out and waving, the body has no legs, nearby a "Gazelle" is burning. The convoy turned into chaos... whoever has the most powerful engine wins and tries to pick up their own (without stopping). An APC shut down - it is immediately abandoned, they pick up their personal firearms and wait for the next car, jump in... I've seen such only in movies, and it wasn't even a convoy, more of a queue in the field. Who are these colonels who sent us to retreat along the border, knowing in advance that Russia shoots at us - I don't know."
Seryoga on the phone:
"On the pontoon bridge the separatists already hit us with mortars, and there we also got some shots in, smacked the quilted jackets somewhat. We caught one of them - he turned out to be an officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Asked us to release him till blood in he says, said that he has children at home, told that there are many cossacks - they are the Russian Army officers in different clothing. Shot him. Kept his papers, later we'll show them. I don't know how many exactly there were, but about 300 machines in the convoy there were.. Nobody knows how many remained - about a half approximately. Right now we are figuring it out, confirming the lists."
So it goes, comrades. I want to kill.
2. According to the announcements from the junta, about 1000 people managed to break out of the cauldron. It is worth reminding that at the time of the encirclement the group consisted of up to 5.5-6 thousand people. Taking the part which ran into Russia and later returned into Ukraine into account, during the encirclement in the South Cauldron the junta lost 2/3 of the encircled forces. Significant losses in people and in vehicles, a part is destroyed during fighting, a part is captured/transferred to the militia, a part was destroyed during the retreat due to the lack of fuel and lubricants and breakage. In the nearest 1-2 days the army of Novorossia will perform a sweep of the enemy groups that remain in the cauldron, during which the scope of the acquired trophies and the overall junta losses in vehicles will become fully clear.
The information about the 18 captured MRLS "Grad" was confirmed.
At this moment the overall number of trophies http://russian.rt.com/article/44459#ixzz39nE2I3zH (in Russian) is about 70 vehicles. The technical state is unknown.
The junta also announces that during the retreat it destroyed everything that couldn't drive. The amount of destroyed vehicles is unknown.
Click to viewA convoy of trophy "Grads" of the militia in Makeyevka.
3. At this moment the army of Novorossia, besides sweeping, is freeing up forces, which earlier were engaged in blocking the encircled group. The main part of these forces will move towards Shakhtyorsk-Snezhnoye, something will depart to finish off the Luhansk airport. 2-3 days will be required for transferring tanks, MRLS, and howitzer batteries, after which we may expect strikes on junta positions. Overall, the front lines narrowed for the militia, and the density of artillery fire will inevitably increase, which at this moment is critically important, because it is precisely the artillery fist which will allow to parry if not all then the most of junta attacks.
The crash site of the downed MiG-29.
4. The approximate term for restoring 79-th and 24-th brigade to combat readiness is about 2-3 weeks, 72-nd, up to one and a half months. Big losses in people and vehicles won't be so easy to compensate. Overall, the battle for South Cauldron is won, the South group is routed and after suffering big losses was forced to break to their own. Significant losses were also suffered by the military aviation of the junta, which persistently suffered losses from the fire of MANPADS and SAMs of the militia. The hole in the border now became indecently big, which allows to set up supplying of the DPR and the LPR from the South checkpoints, which were located on the territory of the South cauldron and were controlled by the junta. The supply shoulder for the militia squads in the South Donbass will become much shorter.
Ataman Kozitsyn already managed to issue an order of awarding the group commander "Prapor" who liberated the "Dolzhansky" checkpoint.
For successfully carrying out the combat task of liberating the "Dolzhansky" checkpoint from Ukrainian occupiers, the detachment commander "Prapor" is given the highest award - the order of the golden star "Hero of Cossack People"
Yesterday, 08/07/2014 at 22 hours 30 minutes the flag of the Cossack National Guard was raised on the Dolzhansky checkpoint.
08/07/2014 the sweep of checkpoint "Dolzhansky" and the nearby territories from the american-banderovite armed congregations started. The detachment "Prapor" accomplished the combat task that was posed by the general Kozitsyn N.I. During the fighting for liberating the checkpoint from the occupiers military two armored vehicles were destroyed and a large number of enemy personnel. At this moment the final sweep and mine clearing of the nearby territories, which were mined by the Ukrainian military.
UPD: Plus photo from the captured checkpoint "Dolzhanka".
5. The fact that the remains of the encircled forces couldn't be fully cooked in the cauldron points at the continuing problems of Novorossia army in the field of repelling the attacks of large mechanized detachments, the lack of tanks, anti-tank means, and artillery at this time does not allow to fully liquidate the enemy ability to perform dissecting strikes. This is an objective factor which actually impeded the full rout of the enemy. But even in this form this is certainly a victory, considering huge enemy losses and the strategic consequences of widening the window on the border.
Overall, the coming few days will devoted to localizing the consequences of the breakthrough of the remains of the encircled forces and stabilizing the front line in the area of Shakhtyorsk-Snezhnoye-Torez. I suppose that by the end of the week the militia fighters are quite capable of solving this task, taking into account the reinforcements that were freed up after the liquidation of the South Cauldron.
PS. On Saur-Mogila there's no reliable data, we requested Donetsk on the topic of what's with Saur-Mogila, exactly how many trophies were captured in South Cauldron and during the rout of the 25-th airborne brigade, and how is the fighting unfolding in Miusinsk. Once we get the information, I'll immediately announce it.
Original article: http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/1719189.html (in Russian)