Russian authorities have tried to put a positive spin on Ukraine’s reported capture of the strategically important settlement of Urozhaine, insisting Kyiv’s forces lost huge numbers of elite troops just to advance “a couple of hundred meters.”
“After two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement, the enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of the Urozhaine,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official, wrote on his Telegram channel.
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He added: “In order to advance a couple of hundred meters, the enemy made many ‘meat’ assaults, losing two of the four assault groups of elite marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Various other Russian sources claimed the retreat of Moscow’s forces was done in an orderly fashion with “minimal losses.”
But the available evidence suggests the Russian account of events is a little wide of the mark – videos posted to social media showed the Kremlin’s troops fleeing on foot from the village while being shelled with deadly cluster ammunitions, perhaps why, at the time of writing, Russian state TV was yet to cover the news.
Regardless, Russian commentators on social media appeared to be accepting the official version of events as presented by Rogov.
“They have advanced a couple of hundred meters at the cost of a hundred soldiers, this is not a victory. This is a fierce shame. This is a horror to ruin so many people for the sake of hundreds of meters, which in the end, our soldiers will repel again!” one person said.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December, 20, 2024
One person with the username “rossiyavperedz” seemed totally unaware of both the Russian army’s tactics and their consistent lack of successes during the war, writing: “Meat assaults, significant losses, minimal progress ... Unlike us. We capture such settlements swiftly and without incurring losses.”
Sergei somehow concluded that a Russian retreat from a key town on the frontlines was an absolute disaster for Ukraine, writing: “What is this advance at the front, half a kilometer in 2.5 months? And the losses are monstrous. The end of Ukrainians. They won't have long left.”
But not everyone was so taken in by the official version of events. “It's really strange,” wrote “Yetzuch.”
“They [authorities] constantly say that things are really bad for the Ukrainians, yet we're retreating again. Do you realize the risks of splitting our army? Where is Surovikin? Where's the support for our guys to fend off the Ukrainians? Where is this happening? Is it Kherson once more? I hope not.”
“Lech” had a similar viewpoint, writing: “And some people keep saying that the Ukrainians are already running out of ammunition, and the will is broken - they do not want to fight, and in general, they are ready to surrender everything...But come here! Moving forward... Strange,” said another critic called “Lech.”
Yury Dolgoruky wrote: “With such a powerful army as ours, aviation, there should not have been even a meter of advance by definition.”
In a recent update on Monday, August 14, Anna Maliar, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had achieved “partial success” in its assault on the village of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region.
The village was a fortified enclave occupied by Russian Armed Forces positioned along the Mokri Yaly River but in advance of the so-called Surovikin Line of Russian defense which Ukrainian troops still have to face,
While the situation remains fluid, video images and pro-Russian mil bloggers indicate that Urozhaine largely came under Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) control on Sunday, August 13.
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