Losing Ocheretine, the Ukrainian defense line collapsed continuously

(Dan Tri) – The sudden fall of the important Ocheretine stronghold on the `northern gate` of Avdiivka caused the Ukrainian army to lose everything and the consequences were extremely disastrous, the second line of defense collapsed continuously.

Ukrainian soldiers are trying to prevent Russia from advancing further (Illustration: Skynews/Reuters).

Ukraine lost important base Ocheretine

The important Ocheretine stronghold in the northwest of the city of Avdiivka was suddenly successfully captured by Moscow forces and the disintegration of the first defense line of 7 villages – including Stepove, Lastochkyne, Sjeverne, Tonenke, Orlivka, Semenivka,

About 10km west of the village of Berdychi – Semenivka is the Vovcha river.

Based on natural conditions such as rivers, forest belts, hills and villages, Kiev forces can form a systematic defense line, to prevent the enemy from breaking through further west.

Of course, this defensive line is not Ukraine’s forward position.

According to the enemy’s defensive strength, the Russian army has captured the first line, however, it will take a relatively long time to destroy the second line that Ukraine has prepared, in which Ocheretine is a key base.

The development potential of the Russian center cluster and the main force of the Donetsk 1st Army Corps will be exhausted when attacking this line and they may have to switch to a state of rest and restore combat ability.

At this time, the Ukrainian army will have more time to prepare overall defense and fill the gaps after not being able to hold Avdiivka.

However, the sudden fall of the important Ocheretine stronghold on the `northern gate` caused the Ukrainian army to lose everything and the consequences were extremely disastrous, the second line of defense collapsed continuously.

To prevent Russian forces from penetrating the Northern Triangle, the Ukrainian Army is focusing resources on building fortifications in front of the H32 highway.

On the south side of Ocheretine and west of the first line of defense west of Avdiivka, Kiev forces were also to activate second line positions, to delay the Russian attack.

The main force of the Russian Central Group is attacking west of Avdiivka, mainly units of the 1st Donetsk Army Corps, including the 1st, 114th and 9th Mechanized Infantry Brigades. Of which the 1st Brigade is responsible for the attack.

War map of Ukraine at Avdiivka on May 9.

`Immortal Brigade` of the Russian Army

Because Ukraine has a large defense force in this direction, the expectation that the Russian army can advance quickly is not great.

It must be said that this flag planting was quite shocking, because the forward position of the 114th Mechanized Infantry Brigade was still 3-4km away from Umanske.

In the form of positional combat, facing a target that is the center of the enemy’s second line of defense, it is not easy for the Russian army to overcome this distance in a direct attack and capture most of it.

But the truth is that with just one fierce operation carried out by Brigade 114, the Russian flag of victory flew in the village of Umanske on May 9.

If the 114th Brigade completely captured Umanske in the next few days, then combined with the attack from Novopokrovsk on the northern flank;

Although Novoselivka Persha village has two high points to serve as a defensive battlefield, it lacks solid residential areas, so it is `soft like flesh without bones`, so as long as the Russian army attacks more fiercely, the enemy will be extremely vulnerable.

After this front was leveled, it meant that the Russian Army essentially took over the second defensive zone, from which it could advance to the defense line on the Vovcha River.

Just looking at the attack of the Russian 114th Brigade, it can be confirmed that it was a surprise attack;

Otherwise, it will be difficult to explain the actual battlefield situation in Avdiivka, this is an area that in theory should have been reinforced with defense forces, but was lost to the Russian army in a very short period of time.

Such rapid local defeats have occurred many times on the Ukrainian battlefield recently, although their scale is not so large as to cause a general collapse of the entire Ukrainian battlefield.

Repeated small retreats would cause the front to continue to shrink, leading to even more moments of collapse at Ocheretine.

As for the sudden change of situation in the direction of Umanske, there is another interesting fact that theoretically, Ukraine should have had a lot of defenders here, and the quality of the units was not low either.

For example, responsible for the defense in the middle of the second defensive line are the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 68th Brigade, the 78th Air Assault Brigade… but they were all attacked by the Russian 114th Mechanized Infantry Brigade – the unit that

Even while fighting in the city of Avdiivka earlier this year, Ukraine’s 3rd Azov Assault Brigade claimed to have `basically destroyed` the 114th Brigade of the 1st Donetsk Army Corps.

It was the soldiers of the 114th Brigade who defeated the counterattack of the Ukrainian mobile force group here, completely occupied the village of Orlivka and raised the flag, then they continued to attack Semenivka north of Orlivka and raised the war flag one after another.

If we mention the magical feeling of capturing the `Slag Mountain` in the Battle of Avdiivka, then organizing a deep push south straight into the city center of Avdiivka, then the fighting prowess of the Russian 114th Brigade has been confirmed.

For a unit that has been repeatedly declared destroyed by the enemy, it is clear that the `immortal warriors` cannot be relied upon.

In addition, it should be noted that the fighting spirit of the 1st Donetsk Army is currently very high and its perseverance in offensive operations is much stronger than that of the main units of the Russian Army.

Currently, the Donetsk 1st Army Corps has 6 brigades and has been merged into the Russian Army since June last year.

With the current wave of attacks by the 1st Donetsk Army, it is difficult for Kiev forces in the western direction of Donetsk city to resist and observers question whether Ukraine’s third line of defense in the west