ISW on Donbas: russian assault on Kramatorsk will likely run parallel to advances toward Sloviansk
Photo: HI.DN.UA
The russian forces are probably creating the conditions for an attack on either Sloviansk or Kramatorsk.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported this.
The report states that the russian army's primary effort is Ukraine's East, comprised of one subordinate and three supporting efforts: encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the pocket between Izium and Donetsk and Luhansk regions being subordinate, and supporting efforts being Kharkiv City and Southern Axis of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
russian forces continued offensive operations near the Kharkiv–Donetsk regional border toward Sloviansk on July 7.
The Institute for the Study of War suggests that artillery strikes to the south of Barvinkove, Nikopol, and Novopavlivka may mean that russian forces are seeking to bypass Barvinkove to the east and either move toward the E40 Izium–Sloviansk highway to advance southeast toward Sloviansk or move directly southeast from Barvinkove toward Kramatorsk.
"russian forces may be setting conditions for an eventual assault on Kramatorsk—which would run parallel to advances toward Sloviansk," the report says. The experts add that russian forces conducted a missile strike directly on Kramatorsk on July 7.
It is noted that russian troops achieved minor successes southeast of Siversk and continued their offensive west of Lysychansk.
"Geolocated combat footage from July 7 confirmed that forces of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) entered the eastern outskirts of Spirne, about 10 km southwest of Siversk," the experts report.
russian troops continued their offensive to the south and east of Bakhmut and conducted an unsuccessful attack north of Kharkiv.
"russian troops fought in Pokrovske, directly east of Bakhmut, and prepared for attacks on Ukrainian positions in Novoluhanske and at the Vuhledar Power Plant, 20 km southeast of Bakhmut. russian forces reportedly shelled settlements to the east and south of Bakhmut to continue to set conditions for advances toward the city," the review said. "russian forces otherwise focused on maintaining their positions and repelling Ukrainian counterattacks [near Kharkiv]."
As for the Southern Axis, the analysts say russian forces attempted limited ground assaults to retake lost positions in the Kherson region and continued to hold their occupied positions and conduct artillery strikes along the entire Southern Axis to constrain Ukrainian counteroffensives.
The ISW also reports the increased activity of Ukrainian partisans in and around occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhia region, increasingly targeting russian rail lines. The Ukrainian Resistance Center said that Ukrainian partisans blew up a railway bridge about 25 km north of Melitopol.
It is also reported that russia continues to create its temporary voluntary battalions to compensate for the loss of personnel during the war in Ukraine.
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