The Ukrainian military moved closer to the delimitative line on the Donetsk direction and took under full control the settlement of Mar'yinka which borders on the occupied Donetsk. As the headquarters of the JFO reported, now the positions of the AFU and militants are separated by only by a few hundred meters. "Apostrophe" inquires what a rapid reduction in the so-called "gray zone" will give to the Ukrainian army.
New positions
The consolidation of the separate mechanized brigade named after King Daniil in the "gray" Mar'yinka began about a month ago. Then the foot soldiers quietly entered the city and intrenched themselves in it, pushing the defense line 600 meters in the direction of the occupied Donetsk.
"Ukrainian foot soldiers daily performed the engineering equipping of positions, their strengthening and development. By now, in the direction of occupied village of Oleksandrivka the foot soldiers have built a full-fledged strong points of the units," the headquarters of the JFO reported.
Now the position of the Ukrainian military and the occupied capital of Donbass are separated only by a thin line of the river Osykova.
By the way, Ukrainian soldiers made an interesting discovery in Mar'yinka: 40 anti-personnel mines, which Ukraine destroyed in the framework of the Ottawa Treaty in 2003. But Russia is not a signatory to the Treaty, and, accordingly, it did not refuse from anti-personnel mines.
Immediately after the information about the promotion of the AFU to the Western outskirts of Donetsk appeared in the media, the militants hastened to refute it, they say, they have everything under control.
"There are no military advances deep into Mar'yinka,", the so-called Deputy Head of Department of fake national militia of DPR Eduard Basurin informed on June 12. And in the night of June 14 fighters from mortars fired at residential quarters of Mar'yinka. As a result of the shelling, 4 local residents, including a 9-year-old child, had injures varying severity.
"Again there was a "disco", I do not remember such actions happening for a year if not more, - the resident of Petrovsky district of Donetsk (it borders with Mar'yinka) Serhii said to "Apostrophe". – I woke up from a roar at six o'clock in the morning. Was it some kind of advance? It was really weird and scary. I woke up my wife, took water, mobile phones, the dog and went down to the basement. We sat for half an hour, then everything seemed quiet, and we went out. I saw that the houses were intact, there was nothing special anywhere, it was a luch".
A game of chess on the front
It should be noted that the advancement of the AFU into the "gray zone" did not begin with Mar'yinka. For example, in the beginning of June in there were messages mass-media about taking control of the height "Derzkaia" by the soldiers of the 79th air assault brigade in the village Pikuzy (previous name Kominternovo) under Mariupol. On this site the militants settled, however, the Ukrainian military dislodged the terrorists, occupying a more favorable position.
And in November last year, the AFU regained control over the village of Rozsadky in Donetsk region. In total, last year, since the beginning of the operation of the JFO, according to the press center of the headquarters of the JFO, the Ukrainian military took control of more than 15 square kilometers of the "gray zone".
However, according to experts, the fact that the Ukrainian military came close to the positions of militants in Donetsk, is not evidence of the preparation of an advance on the city.
"After all, we are well aware that the solution to this conflict is possible only in a political and diplomatic way," the military expert Oleh Starykov said to "Apostrophe".
Then why was it necessary? What is behind the tactics of approaching the line of demarcation?
"We are talking about improving the tactical position, - the military expert Oleksii Arestovych explained to "Apostrophe" – Since the front line has not changed during four years, the opponents know about each other's positions in as much detail as possible, literally up to a centimeter. Sometimes, you need to wait for three days for favorable weather to bring water to the checkpoint, when the sun will shine in the face of the enemy or, for example, the fog will fall to pass safely. This is a whole chess game and there is always a temptation to improve the situation."
"In the area of Mar'yinka there is a waste heap, on which the occupiers dragged a variety of means and fired at the positions of our troops and the village of Mar'yinka. Therefore, I think that here we are talking about the tactical improvement of the positions of our troops in order to stop the shelling," the expert of the Center for military and political research Konstiantyn Mashovets explained to "Apostrophe".
However, according to Mashovets, taking under control "gray zone" may be the part of more large-scale plan of AFU.
"When the JFO was headed by General Naiev, he spoke about the creation of a security strip in front of the positions. This strip of terrain, which is under special control and makes it difficult to the reconnaissance and sabotage groups of the enemy to penetrate the battle formations of our troops. Accordingly, it may be the cause of advancement in the "gray zone," Mashovets said.
However, such tactics, according to experts, have both positive and negative consequences.
"The strategic prospects are that the Ukrainian military, mainly take control of positions that dominate the terrain. After all, we saddle the tops in the "gray zone" and the key passages, through which equipment and tanks can secretly be brought. And if for some reason the advance begins, the Russians will have to attack from the bottom up, accumulating forces at disadvantageous boundaries. And we will see them. Therefore, the AFU creates conditions for the Russians to be very uncomfortable to make an advance and thus we keep them from this attack," Arestovych emphasized.
According to Oleg Zhdanov, this tactic is not always justified. "In response, we get such a fire effect from the enemy that we bear losses," - Zhdanov explained to “Apostrophe”. – Let us recall the battles in the area of Yasynuvata junction. We move fighters on unprepared positions, they are under fire and under fire we begin to equip them. Politicians say that it is necessary to separate troops, and the General Headquarters put them forward."
In addition, such advance may become a motive for Russian mercenaries to freeze the talks in Minsk. It is a formal one, but still it is a motive.
"In tactical terms, everything happened correctly. And at the strategic level, now Leonid Kuchma will be told at the trilateral contact group that there were promises not to move anywhere, but the real situation happened to be different," Oleh Starykov concluded.
