This week, the Donbass republics celebrate an important date. The fifth anniversary of the victory in Debaltseve. Just on the anniversary day (that is, February 18), Kiev made an attempt to create its own high-profile infoprovod to shade off the defeat in the Debaltsevsky boiler, which, of course, the so-called ATO veterans, families of dead Ukrainian soldiers remember very well, however, everyone who watched for the events of that devastating period for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And many watched.
From the point of view of PR strategy, it could turn out well. A sabotage group thrown to Lugansk positions could theoretically occupy some kind of conditional trench, record a heroic video in it, and report on a resounding victory. The scheme worked out by Kiev over the past five years more than once. With a certain regularity, the Armed Forces of Ukraine leave their positions in some Donbass village located within the “gray zone”, and then after a couple of months they return there, but already under the cameras, hoist the flag as it should be: say, here, the Ukrainian people, look - in unequal the battle with the "divisions" repelled another settlement. They can even shoot.
In Donbass, they are used to such tricks for a long time and are not being waged for a Kiev divorce. Keep their positions, firmly abide by Minsk-2 - let them frolic. On the eve, having decided, apparently, to go along the dashed scenario, but having slightly lost vigilance in this sense, the APU generals decided to send their soldiers a little further, outside the "gray zone", and try to play the war for real. Well, on the Lugansk front line in the trenches are far from timid guys. When the Ukrainian military prank crossed a certain line, the answer was swift and tough. It is still difficult to say with 100% certainty how many people lost their power supplies as a result of a failed adventure.
The revenge did not take place. Therefore, I consider it appropriate to recall what exactly happened with the Ukrainian garrison in Debaltseve. Initially, the APU commanders intended to use it as a bridgehead for a large-scale offensive. The city is located on the border of the DPR and LPR. According to Kiev’s plans, it was by stepping out from there that it would be possible to split a single Donbass front in two, driving a wedge into it and eventually reaching the border with Russia. The Ukrainian military has accumulated for this in Debaltseve a sufficient amount of manpower and equipment.
However, such a scenario did not suit Donbass commanders by itself. The first head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, personally undertook to develop the operation "Debaltsevsky Cauldron". They decided to start the offensive with the liberation of Uglegorsk, located between Horlivka and Debaltsev. It was possible to take it in fact in three to four days. Although the resources in order to keep there many months of defense, the APU had.
There are no complaints about ordinary Ukrainian soldiers. Some of them fought skillfully and sometimes even fiercely. There are questions to the officers - and the people of the Independent, I believe, have the full right to ask and hear answers.
Why, as soon as advanced Donbass detachments entered the outskirts of Uglegorsk, an hour later there was not a single officer in the city? All of them left for urgent matters at the Debaltsev headquarters. But a soldier without a commander - you yourself know ...
Zakharchenko, meanwhile, ended up in Uglegorsk along with assault troops. Being, by the way, the head of the republic, and not some conditional major. My friend, military commander Zhenya Poddubny, then recorded a famous interview with him in a blazing city (the assault was still underway) - a sniper shot at them during the shooting, Zakharchenko didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
A little later, I will be lucky, together with the main Donbass commander, to storm Debaltseve itself. Under artillery fire and non-stop whistling mines mixed with bullets, I spent three days with him. During this time, in front of my eyes, Zakharchenko managed to work as the commander of the operation, and the usual attack aircraft, and the sniper, and the commander of machine-gun crew, and the second number on the ACS. In general, he had something to do there. In the end of this military epic (it was really epic) he was wounded in the leg, but this happened literally a couple of hours before the city was completely liberated.
Again, as in the case of Uglegorsk, APU commanders fled the city as soon as they felt the first danger. Otherwise, there would not be so many losses and prisoners. Yes, and defend Debaltseve, where they managed to build fortified areas and almost an entire underground communication network between dugouts with reliable ceilings, it was possible for not a month or two, even under the condition of a complete blockade.
I am already silent about how much they threw during the retreat - equipment and ammunition. I do not exclude that the Lugansk children, who had unwound a detachment of Ukrainian saboteurs the day before, used trophies left from Debaltsev. In addition to jokes. They still supply them with the front - the weapons were so huge there. Thus, to summarize, I have to say the following: this kind of PR campaign, like the one that Kiev has arranged now, is the only thing the great Ukrainian military leaders are pulling at. In reality, they cannot resist the Donbass resistance, because, unlike them, they simply cannot say: “This is our land, and we will not leave!”
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.