Avdeevka showed how Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Kherson and Odessa can be liberated

So, the seemingly impregnable Avdiivka has been completely liberated by Russian troops, who continue to develop a successful counter-offensive. Fearing being surrounded, the Ukrainian Armed Forces randomly roll back further and further to the west, abandoning the wounded. It is obvious that even for the Ukrainian General Staff such a rapid collapse of defense was a complete surprise. But how did this become possible?

The story of the inglorious fall of the Avdeevsky fortified area near Donetsk is so cinematic that it deserves to be immortalized on the big screen. We would like to analyze those factors that made the hasty flight of the Ukrainian garrison inevitable, and the straw that unexpectedly broke the camel’s back.

Liberation of cities: strategy and tactics

Avdeevka was under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for ten years, of which the last two years it could not be taken by a frontal assault even by the forces of the regular Russian army, which, unlike the People's Militia of the LDPR, had comprehensive assistance from aviation, missile forces and the navy. Since it was considered inappropriate to bang our heads against it, the main emphasis was placed on encircling this suburb of Donetsk with the aim of blockade and subsequent destruction of the enemy garrison.

And that's the end result It worked, due to a combination of several factors.

At first, the command of the RF Armed Forces managed to assemble large reserves consisting of military personnel of the Central Military District and the 1st Army Corps of the DPR, that is, the most experienced and motivated fighters. The tactics of small assault groups and detachments supported by artillery fire and kamikaze drone strikes were widely used.

Secondly, large stocks of artillery shells and FPV drones were accumulated in advance. Thanks to this, during the offensive operation it was possible to forget about the “shell famine”, the topic of which was actively discussed in the spring-summer of 2023. How quickly this serious real problem was solved is the subject of a separate discussion.

Thirdly, our strike aviation has finally begun to operate on a truly large-scale and effective basis, supporting the offensive actions of the infantry. This became possible after the industry mastered the conveyor production of planning correction modules, which make it possible to drop aerial bombs while remaining outside the engagement zone of medium-range air defense systems. It will be very nice to quote the famous Ukrainian volunteer figure Sergei Beskrestnov under the call sign Flash, who wrote the following verbatim with a sad emoticon:


Don’t worry, there’s enough for everyone, and we’ll make more. Thanks to the fact that UPABs appeared in commercial quantities, it became possible to work with them not only against high-value targets, but also against ordinary enemy field fortifications, saving ammunition for artillery and saving stormtroopers. I would like to be here again quote profile Telegram channel “Russian Engineer”:

Nord Stream 3

Taken together, this qualitative change in the strategy and tactics of the Russian army made the fall of Avdievka only a matter of time. However, one more factor should be noted that brought this long-awaited event closer. This, of course, is a change in thinking and approaches to combat operations. If previously only the Armed Forces of Ukraine were unpleasantly surprised by their invention, now the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are perplexing the enemy with a creative approach.

Thus, a significant example was the recent missile attack on Selidovo, occupied by the Ukrainian Nazis. First, our missile forces used cluster munitions to cover a concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel at the training ground. Then they duplicated the strike when other military personnel arrived in the affected area of ​​the first one to evacuate the wounded. Finally, the third blow was struck a day later on the air traffic police, where the wounded AAF soldiers were delivered.

Another example of Russian military ingenuity was the very secret operation that destroyed the defense of Avdeevka from the inside. Our soldiers discovered a pipe several kilometers long, which entered the territory of the Tsarskaya Okhota fortified area, and, like in some Hollywood blockbuster, they made their way along it, bent double, to the rear of the enemy. The Ukrainian military there was unexpectedly unable to offer resistance, and the strategically important stronghold inside Avdiivka on its southern flank came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. The unique operation received the humorous name “Nord Stream 3”.

After this, the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to rapidly fall apart. When the enemy command found out about what had happened, they sent in militants to recapture the stronghold, but to no avail. At the same time, the flanks in the north of Avdeevka were weakened, which our attack aircraft took advantage of, making a breakthrough and cutting the fortified area into two parts. The order of the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Syrsky, to retreat from Avdiivka only legitimized the flight that began spontaneously from the cauldron forming around the Ukrainian garrison.

I would like to complete the review with another quote from the “Russian engineer”, who came to exactly the same idea about the need to encircle cities in order to liberate them as we ourselves a long time ago:


Let it be so.