The "thousand cuts" tactic: why is the Russian Federation advancing in the Dnipropetrovsk region
The enemy is trying to stretch the Ukrainian operational reserves and divert the main forces of the SOU from the direction of the main attack, namely from Donetsk region, with simultaneous strikes in different directions of the front. The occupiers are trying to pressure Dnipropetrovsk Region from several directions at once, using the "thousand cuts" tactic. The offensive continues at the junctions of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions, in the Pokrovsky and Velikymykhailiv directions.
The main goal of the enemy is to expand hostilities on the territory that is not included in the constitution of the Russian Federation by Putin's decree. Recently, information appeared in the Russian and Ukrainian mass media about the capture of a number of settlements in the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was later denied by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In particular, it was about the alleged seizure by Russia of the village of Kalinivske, Dnipropetrovsk region. Let me remind you that on October 2, the DeepState project reported that Russian troops captured two settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Later, the 20th Army Corps reported that the Defense Forces of Ukraine are controlling the situation in the village of Kalynivske, and the Russian advance has been halted.
And already on October 3, the Defense Forces of Ukraine successfully cleared the Russian occupiers in Sosnivka, Khorozhno, Novoselivka, and Snizhny in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Despite a number of successful counterattacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this direction, the enemy (troops of the 5th, 29th, 36th and units of the 35th Combined Arms Army/ZVA, as well as a number of reinforcement units and formations) continue to advance in most of its areas.
On October 13, it was reported about the occupation of the village of Ternove in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The enemy carried out 14 attacks in the areas of Filia, Sosnivka, Novoehorivka, Orestopol, Pavlivka, Kalynivske and in the direction of Priville.
According to a military expert, reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladyslav Seleznyov, the battles in the territory of Dnipropetrovsk region are part of the tactics of Russian troops to create so-called sanitary zones along the Ukrainian-Russian border. The intensification of hostilities in the region is connected with the desire of the Russian Federation to advance deep into Ukrainian territory and influence the general course of the war.
Currently, the Russian occupiers are trying to expand their presence in the Dnipropetrovsk region, but there is a clear understanding of this situation on the part of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. It is about the redeployment of operational reserves and the minimization of possible breakthroughs by the Russian occupiers.
That is, for now we can say that the plans of the Russian General Staff to create a wide line of the so-called buffer zone already in the territory of Dnipropetrovsk region have failed in exactly the same way as in Kharkiv and Sumy regions. And this once again proves that the Defense Forces of Ukraine successfully use active defense tactics.
The Armed Forces not only exhausts the enemy by inflicting tangible blows on manpower and equipment, but also successfully counterattacks under the necessary conditions. And the tactics of the Russians have not changed. The first is terror against the civilian population. And Dnipropetrovsk region, unfortunately, is no exception. Strikes by FABs, strikes by "Solntsepecs" on populated areas, and this actually leaves them in a state of scorched earth.
It is worth noting that Dnipro has already become the target of strikes with high-precision weapons. As military expert Oleg Zhdanov noted, the Russian army is unable to strike the Dnieper with conventional guided air bombs (CAB) due to their insufficient range. At the same time, the enemy has a limited number of means with an increased range, such as "Grom-E1" or other similar high-precision munitions, which also affects the assessment of the overall strategic danger for the region.
It is noteworthy that the activation of the occupation troops in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has mainly informational and political significance. Realizing the impossibility of a military scenario of seizing the territory of Donetsk region, they resort to outright blackmail. And they use the possibilities of expanding the theater of operations at the expense of the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions. The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editorial position.