A serviceman from Ukraine’s 41st Separate Mechanized Brigade, Kyrylo Sazonov, says Russia’s main objective on the Pokrovsk axis was Dobropillya, and that Moscow massed a strike force to push toward it. He said the plan has been disrupted, but the situation in the area remains “very difficult.”
Russian forces tried to break through not toward Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad, but to Dobropillya, which would have opened the way to Druzhkivka, he said on October 4 on the “Kyiv” TV channel.
“The enemy’s main political and military goal now is the Kostiantynivka–Druzhkivka–Kramatorsk–Sloviansk agglomeration. Four major cities in Donetsk region arrayed south to north — the core of what we hold in the Donetsk agglomeration. Not Myrnohrad and Pokrovsk. Capturing those cities is the key objective for the enemy,” he said.
Sazonov said Russian forces are unable to storm Kostiantynivka because they keep running into Ukrainian defenses near Toretsk and Chasiv Yar and cannot break through, leading to constant shelling of the city.
“It’s horrific there,” he said, describing the situation in Kostiantynivka.
If Russian troops were to reach the city and start an assault, it would be the southernmost point in the agglomeration, followed by Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, he noted.
“That would drag on endlessly, for years. But here there’s a chance to come in from the west and strike Druzhkivka immediately, splitting the agglomeration in two,” he added.
He said Russia concentrated “a very large number of troops” near Dobropillya - the 51st and 8th Russian armies, several mechanized divisions and three marine brigades.
“I don’t remember such a concentration of marines even in the Kursk region. This was a big fist meant to drive on Dobropillya and then turn toward Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka,” Sazonov said.
Commenting on reported pockets near Dobropillya, he said the map looks more like “a hare with ears” than a crab’s claw.
“Both ears were cut off by our guys there. And now, as we crudely say, they’re slowly finishing them off,” he said.
He said Russian forces ended up in two small pockets (known in Russian as “kotly”). He estimated roughly a battalion might be encircled, but “very, very battered.” The main problem, he added, is the “head of the hare,” which Ukrainian forces have not managed to cut off despite efforts, as Russia keeps reinforcing it.
“They will try to counterattack, push us back and cut off our advance. The situation is very difficult. The enemy has a significant numerical advantage, but we’re working,” Sazonov said.
He added that Russia’s plans for the region have been derailed.
“Their goal of rapidly advancing in Donetsk region — to capture all of it by year’s end — is now in the realm of dreams that won’t come true,” the soldier said.
