Why Pokrovsk is being surrendered: How Russia is waging offensive

Author: Yurii Butusov

The situation near Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk direction, is catastrophic without exaggeration, the enemy continues to advance and it is simply impossible to stop them.

If you watch the news, someone may get the impression that there are some powerful tank columns, thousands of infantrymen are attacking in waves, and the enemy is impossible to stop. Let's look at it now. We'll look at the statements of Oleksandr Syrskyi, Mariana Bezuhla, one of the leading people with access to the highest state secrets, who is now actually the main whistleblower of the highest military command in the government. And of course, we will start the review with maps and then answer your questions.

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Let's look at the map we have of the general situation at the breakthrough point as of August 29.

This is a bright yellow color. This is the territory that the enemy has captured since August 1, 2024. On August 6, Ukrainian troops attacked in the Kursk region, but Russian troops captured a large territory in the Ukrainian Donbas in the same August. The enemy captured a lot. We captured Sudzha, the enemy captured the town of Novohrodivka and a number of other large settlements. I want to show here that the enemy first drives wedges into our defense, and then draws these flanks. And the main problem is that we have not been able to stop the enemy in this direction at all throughout August. The enemy advances almost every day. Let's see where this is happening, it's a tragic situation.

You may think that this is some huge territory. In fact, the enemy is breaking through our positions. Look, we have shown a black pointer on the map. This is the width of the entire front of the enemy's active operations. The front where the enemy has been actively advancing since August. The width of this entire front, where the enemy is advancing, is 18 kilometers. The main breakthrough zone to Pokrovsk is 18 kilometers wide. And I want to tell you that this is not such a large area. Yes, the enemy is advancing, attacking on the flanks, especially south of Pokrovsk. But this continuous breakthrough is on the frontline for 18 kilometers. It means that this entire breakthrough zone is being shelled from the flanks with virtually all types of artillery and drones. It would seem that this breakthrough has all the tactical possibilities to stop, because its front is small. We are holding the flanks. However, we are not succeeding. The maximum point of enemy advance is Novohrodivka- Selydove. The enemy managed to advance, another pointer, at least 14 kilometers in depth in one month. That is, imagine a month of offensive, 14 kilometers, at least, today it is possible to advance up to 15, on the 18 kilometers of the front, up to 14. In other words, this means that the enemy has an average advance of about 500 meters per day. That is, 500 meters, but every day. In the conditions of Donbas, this is a fairly high rate of advance. And the enemy managed to capture a number of our settlements. Not all of them are shown here, but the largest ones. 

The fighting in Novohrodivka itself lasted for 3 days. It took about a week on the outskirts of Novohrodivka, and 3 days in Novohrodivka itself. The enemy captured the city with almost minimal damage, with an industrial zone, basements of high-rise buildings, high-rise buildings where they could install antennas for drones, surveillance devices, and firing positions. Now the enemy troops have reached the outskirts of Selydove. The enemy is no more than 3-4 kilometers away from the city of Myrnohrad, to the construction zone, and about 9-10 kilometers away from Pokrovsk. This is the situation as of August 29.

Let's see the updated situation for today (August 30 - ed.).

What has changed? The enemy has already advanced to Selydove, advanced to Pokrovsk, advanced to Myrnohrad. Today we can say that it is about 3-4 kilometers to Myrnohrad, about 8-9 to Pokrovsk, and Selydove, the enemy is already on the outskirts. The enemy also came close to the large settlement of Ukrainsk. We see a rather complicated situation in Karlivka. The enemy has actually advanced there from Nevelske, advanced from Krasnohorivka, from Halytsynivka. In fact, our units are actually trapped there, and it will be extremely difficult to hold on in such conditions. And as practice shows, since our troops cannot spend a lot of resources on such attacks, we also see that the fight is tough there and we may have to withdraw. It is a big threat now. Thus, the enemy is advancing on a fairly wide front, but this breakthrough is especially dangerous in the Myrnohrad-Pokrovsk- Selydove-Novohrodivka area, which has already been captured.

This is the situation in the area of Selydove. The enemy actually captured Mykhailivka in three days. This is a suburb, a village that is adjacent to Selydove. And now they have convenient positions to accumulate on the outskirts of Selydove. And thus attack Selydove directly. Selydove is also a densely built-up agglomeration. The enemy has already entered Halytsynivka. The situation, dear friends, is extremely difficult. I want to emphasize that again every day there is an advance, and this advance does not stop.

Of course, these places were visited. We have two reactions from our authorities. The public is discussing it, and there is the reaction of the authorities. Frankly speaking, I have said and am now convinced that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have come to Pokrovsk personally. Because the situation there is critical. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief has mentioned the Pokrovsk direction in his evening addresses about 15 times over the past two months. He constantly said that he listens to reports, personally controls, knows the situation, and understands it. It turns out that everything he knows, unfortunately, does not improve the situation in any way. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who is constantly being told one thing and he is reassuring people, but the breakthrough cannot be stopped, and the enemy is advancing every day, almost continuously, it seemed to me that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief should still arrive in the breakthrough zone, because Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Selydove, Novohrodivka are strategically important agglomerations in Donbas, and they cannot be surrendered in any case. Nevertheless, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as always, when there is a problem, some complicated things, he does not take responsibility, evades this responsibility and hides from these problems somewhere, so that, God forbid, his image and rating are not spoiled by unpleasant things. And that's why Zelenskyy is silent, and only two officials, well, Defense Minister Umierov, he doesn't talk about the war at all, he tries not to touch on the war at all, only that he comments on something good, something nice, something pleasant. Again, this does not spoil his rating, he does not go to the front, does not communicate, does not understand these issues. This is a person who tries to avoid any decisions, responsibility, or sensitive issues. The main thing is to keep his chair and to avoid any negative impact on his reputation. Well, there are two people who did have to speak up and say something in the government. First of all, Ms. Mariana Bezuhla, a member of the Defense Committee, a servant of the people, the main speaker of the government, the Presidential Office, spoke. I would like to remind you that she was elected on the quota of Andrii Yermak, the head of the Presidential Office in Kyiv, where Yermak personally distributed these quotas, and the head of the party organization was Yermak's godfather Mykola Tyshchenko, a servant of the people. So there is a direct connection here, and it is obvious to everyone who is in charge. So Ms. Bezuhla made the following statement from Selydove

that "Russians captured the town of Novohrodivka in a few days. There were fortifications in front of the town that make up a single complex that continues into Selydove. The trenches in front of Novohrodivka were empty, and there was practically no Ukrainian army in the once 25,000-strong town. The 31st Brigade was withdrawn from the town, the brigade commander was dismissed and criminal proceedings were opened. Let me remind you that there are none for Sodol. Instead, an uninformed unit was sent there. This is not the only recent "rotation". Another one is planned. Toretsk, Pokrovsk, there will be more. If they rotate Vuhledar now, we will lose it. All such rotations lead to breakthroughs and deaths. Units are taken away, commanders are removed, people die, we lose hundreds of kilometers of Ukrainian land. The fragmentation of the front is increasing. For example, today the Russians entered Selydove. A week ago, I went to the outskirts of Selydove in the direction of Novohrodivka and saw the fortifications in front of the town. There was nothing in the town, just a normal civilian settlement. I went into the trenches, no one was guarding them, no one was in them. I went underground and came out into the field. There were already Russians behind the field, there was no one else. I didn't get blown up by mines, I didn't meet any territorial defense fighters, only a few insects were the only life in the prepared fortifications around Selydove, which the Russians had been striving for for 10 years. Any civilian could have done the same. In Novohrodivka, on the eve of the Kursk offensive, the sound of shelling echoed in the sky, and residents were still walking the streets. There were no signs of defense preparations or the presence of our military in the town. People were leaving and evacuating through Pokrovsk. 

Here is a photo of the trenches. Friends, this is, of course, a resonant event. A member of the Defense Committee inspected and actually commented on the situation, and she said responsibly that the Ukrainian government surrendered Novohrodivka in a few days, and the Ukrainian government is surrendering Selydove. The Ukrainian leadership is not taking any action to defend Selydove or Novohrodivka. And, of course, all of this is absolutely incompetent command, incompetent rotations. I think that these are loud statements and the fact that Mariana constantly voices them, given the direct connection with the President's Office, I have already said and am saying now, of course, this is the desire of the servants of the people and the President's Office to shift all responsibility, as Mariana writes, only to bad generals. That is, there is a good Zelenskyy and there are bad generals. The generals are to blame for everything, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, he is all in white, Defense Minister Umierov is all in white, the head of the Office, Yermak, is only for everything good, the government itself does everything well, but there are such bad generals, let's change them more often, maybe it will be better. The government is good, it's against the generals, and the generals are bad, they fight and do it badly. In my opinion, of course, I have said this many times, this is an absolutely immoral position of the servants of the people, because I want to remind you that according to the Constitution, we have the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, he holds the meetings of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, he convenes it, he reports, he controls, and if there are any criminal acts, Mariana said, we will now analyze her statement again, about criminal actions, so if there are criminal actions, the servant of the people, Ms. Bezuhla, she should not write this on Facebook, she was elected by the people of Kyiv as a people's deputy, the authorities put her on the Defense Committee, Zelenskyy and Yermak, in order for her to work and fulfill her duties, for which she receives a salary, and what should she do? She should file a crime report with law enforcement agencies, with the State Bureau of Investigation. This is the right way. She should demand the opening of an investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate the criminal actions of the military command, give an assessment of it, open a criminal case based on her statement, and she has all the powers to do so, the statement of the People's Deputy is the basis for opening a criminal case, and thus fight crimes. But Mariana does not do any of this. She does not do any of this. Because if you summon Syrskyi, Sodol and all those she accuses, formerly Zaluzhnyi and now Syrskyi, for questioning about the criminal rotations, when they testify, Sodol will say, "Dear investigators," and Syrskyi will say as well, and Zaluzhnyi will say, "All my decisions are approved, reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Office, a collective body, controlled by the President's Office, our special services and approved by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Office. Personnel appointments of both Syrskyi and Sodol are approved by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Therefore, if someone is committing a crime there, then please, I would very much like Mariana to bring one of her statements to the criminal case of the SBI and to finally Syrskyi, Zaluzhnyi, Sodol to tell the investigators in their testimony so that the investigator signs it.

Who approves these criminal acts at war? This would be very important, so that it is not just PR, so that it is not a shift of responsibility. It would be important to hold them accountable.

Now, regarding Ms Mariana's statement, I will comment on some of the nuances. Yes, Novohrodivka was indeed captured in a few days, I talked about it, there were fortifications, yes, they are still being built, "the trenches were empty before Novohrodivka". Well, this is unreliable information, there were our units in front of Novohrodivka. But the reasons for their withdrawal were completely different.

"In a city of 20,000 people, there was no Ukrainian army." This is true. It's true, there were actually a few positions there, so there was fighting for three days. The 31st Mechanized Brigade was withdrawn before the city. The brigade commander, whom the staff had asked for, was dismissed. The 31st Brigade was withdrawn because there were really big problems there. The brigade was actually destroyed during these battles, and there were heavy losses. There were serious problems with combat capability and with the loss of positions. So, of course, it was replaced. It was withdrawn not because the 31st Brigade was doing so well, but because they just took it away, just like that. No, the situation in the brigade was also difficult. Of course, it was withdrawn because of a serious decline in combat capability. But the brigade commander really tried, the team tried, some people in the team supported, well, this kind of thing. Yes, but they sent an uninformed unit here instead. Uninformed, well, there is no such thing in war, I would say so. Not the most combat-ready units are deployed, sent to this direction. This is a real problem. Yes, rotation. You see, the problem of rotation, not rotation, leads to breakthroughs and deaths. Of course, the rotation is caused by the fact that, unfortunately, we do not have a system for the proper use of troops. And we have a brigade deployed. It is not reinforced when the enemy attacks it, and these brigades are not reinforced in time with infantry. The brigade starts instead of the infantry, when people are exhausted, not necessarily that they all die, people are just exhausted. They need to rest. All the support units, artillerymen, tankers, scouts, drones, even unmanned aerial vehicles, are pushed into the trenches. Then all the people who ensure combat readiness run out. Then all of them, well, when all these people, all the support units, are in the trenches, well, in fact, the brigade cannot fight anymore. And when the brigade has reached the extreme, then it is only replaced. 

I would like to say that, of course, there are different rotations, there are successful rotations, and there are, unfortunately, rotations that are criminal. I believe that an example of a criminal rotation is when, right before the Russian offensive on Toretsk and New York, the 24th Mechanized Brigade was withdrawn from Toretsk and New York and redeployed to Chasiv Yar. I believe that this is indeed a crime, and these are inadequate, absolutely incompetent actions of the Ukrainian command, but who is responsible for this? And this decision was approved by the office of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And it was made by Oleksandr Syrskyi. So if someone doesn't like the criminal rotation in the Defense Committee, please, we really need a criminal case. Investigators can open a statement on my public words, but we understand that the SBI will not initiate anything against itself, against its own people.

The Russians came to Selydove, saw the fortifications in front of the town, and there was no one in the trenches. Friends, I think they were not there not because there was no one there, in fact there are our units there, but Mariana did not go to zero line. She thought there were Russians behind the field, but in fact she didn't see them, there were no Russians there. The problem there is not that there are no troops at all, there is no built-up defense, and the units, of course, the enemy attacks, one or two or three attacks, and our units are weak with a weak organization, they retreat. But there is no such thing as the Russians being there continuously, of course. I want to emphasize even the pace of advancement on the map, as I told you, 500 meters a day, on average. Therefore, there is no such thing as Russians marching at all. 500 meters a day, we understand that this is a sign that there is resistance. Of course, a deputy of the Defense Committee could simply take a "Kropyva", talk to someone in the military, find it, look at the map of the situation, just like we have just given, and clearly check where the enemy is. And to find, if it's interesting, or to find our real frontline positions. Mariana did not blow up on the mines. Well, thank God, I mean, she didn't get blown up by mines, because there are no mines, no training. Unfortunately, the positions are in front of the village... Sedydove and Novohrodivka, friends. There were fortifications, but there is no single constructed complex of these positions. There are no defenses in Sedydove and Novohrodivka, there are no defenses in any village. There are several separate strongholds built in front of Sedydove and Novohrodivka. Unfortunately, they do not cover the entire line. That is, it is not a single complex, unfortunately. I don't know who told Mariana this. There is no such single built complex of fortifications in front of Novohrodivka and Dovoie village. There are several separate strongholds. No more. 

So, territorial defense fighters. Well, of course, they are not there, and it is true that there are no full manning of troops there. Why is this happening? There is no such thing along the entire front line. Mariana went to the second line of defense. The second line of defense along the entire frontline of Ukrainian troops is not occupied. It is not occupied everywhere. This is obvious to everyone, all the military know about it.

Our troops along the entire frontline have built up combat formations in one echelon. We have also talked about this many times. In one echelon. So, of course, this is the formation of troops along the entire front. It's a shame that Mariana only paid attention to this in Selydove. She can see it everywhere. And I hope that she will somehow appeal to her party leadership at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And she will discuss this with them, demand it. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief's headquarters can correct the military here, give clear instructions. The President, I would like to remind you, solely appoints the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. So he will be heard.

Yes, indeed, empty trenches. Yes, thank you. Thank you for this message. Friends, what I want to say. So, indeed, no fortifications have been built in any of the towns of Selydove, Novohrodivka, these towns, which are by definition very suitable and convenient for defense, no fortifications have been built. There are no fortifications in Pokrovsk, no work is underway. And in Myrnohrad. But for some reason, Mariana forgot to say who is doing all this? And who should decide? I want to say, friends, that we have a certain person. And this person has already made many statements. For example, on November 30, 2023, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, issued a video message and instructed his subordinate military-civilian administrations, not Syrskyi's vertical, but Zelenskyy's, the president's, to build fortifications on the main directions. Why have they not been implemented, these decisions of Volodymyr Zelenskyy? Why doesn't Volodymyr Zelenskyy check how his statements are being implemented? Or are his evening addresses just empty PR, empty talk that doesn't need to be controlled, which he just said and ran away, that's it. Tomorrow there will be a new address, and you don't have to pay attention to it anymore. Maybe this is how his subordinates, the heads of civil-military administrations, treat the president? I mean, besides, I want to say that 17 billion hryvnias have been allocated from the budget for these fortifications this year. Mariana voted for these expenditures and the Defense Committee approved them. Why doesn't Mariana check herself, check the spending of the funds she voted for, which should be accountable, including in the Verkhovna Rada, and ask herself, her fellow party members, servants of the people, Mr. Yermak, who made her a deputy, Mr. Zelenskyy, who is the head of her political force, questions? Why don't they fulfill their duties, and in my opinion, also criminally, prepare for the defense of the cities of Donbas? Why did they surrender Novohorodivka without fortifications? There are no trenches, no dugouts, the basements are not connected by passages, there are no underground shelters. Of course, in the absence of any fortifications, just sitting in houses is a poor defense. The house is quickly demolished along with those inside. And if there are no fortifications, the city turns from a convenient position into a trap. And the fighting there does not last long. Unfortunately, the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada does not do all this, and Mariana continues to ignore the responsibility of President Zelenskyy and the military-civilian administrations and blames everything on the generals. 

Then, after Mariana's speech, we had to send the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, to this area. He also came to the area after Mariana and also took photos.

The photos, though not all of them are from this area, are from Pokrovsk, but okay. "I worked for several days in a row in the brigades that are defending the Pokrovsk direction. Work in the headquarters continues around the clock. We constantly have to make non-standard decisions to strengthen the defense and destroy the advancing enemy. The most intense fighting is taking place on the eastern outskirts of Hrodivka, in Novohrodivka, on the eastern outskirts of Mykhailivka, Kamiane, Krasnyi Yar, and in front of Selydove. The fighting is fierce. The enemy is throwing everything into the battle."

This is a message from yesterday (August 29 - ed.). "The soldiers of the 25th Brigade are showing extraordinary resilience. The fighting is extremely fierce. The enemy is throwing everything that can move forward into the battle, trying to break through the defenses of our troops. Our soldiers are showing courage and heroism in battles with superior enemy forces. The 25th Brigade, the 68th Jaeger Brigade, and the 151st Separate Mechanized Brigade were particularly distinguished. In such conditions, our main task is to strengthen the defense of our troops in the most difficult areas of the front, to provide the brigades with sufficient ammunition and other material and technical means. In fact, my work has been dedicated to solving these issues. We are doing everything for our victory. Glory to Ukraine! Oleksandr Syrskyi".

Friends, this is such a difficult speech to analyse.

The phrase that struck me so much from Mr. Syrskyi was non-standard solutions every day. I would like to say that the main problem voiced by commanders and fighters in these areas in conversations with me is the lack of standard defense actions that are not taken by the military command. This is the problem. What about standard actions? Timely preparation of defensive lines, timely occupation of them by troops, timely organization of reconnaissance, defeat of the enemy. Why can't standard actions be applied in this area, Mr. Syrskyi? This is the main question. Where are the kill zones, where are the sectors of fire, where is the possibility of defeating the enemy, where is the interaction between drones, electronic warfare, ground forces, where is the interaction between troops, where are the rotations, where is the correct quality management, timely decisions. There are no solutions in these standard ones. Therefore, I don't know, I would really like to know what non-standard solutions are in the concept of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The main problem with Syrskyi's statement is that it hasn't really been possible to stop the enemy there for a month. And the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces has just arrived and taken a picture. It's good, it's obviously a reaction to Mariana's words, it's very good that it was done. But, to be honest, instead of this PR, I would like to see a solution. What is missing from Mr. Syrskyi's words? I am so impressed with the task statement. In such circumstances, the main task is to strengthen the defense of our troops in the most difficult areas. To provide for the brigades. I am grateful to the three brigades. Thank you. So everything is clear to me. Thank you. What would I like to say? I would like to say that the main problem is that for some reason the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not say anything about what is happening, why the enemy's advance has not been stopped for a month. And he won't say anything about what the commander of the operational and tactical group, Colonel Ledovyi, is doing. No, I understand that he wants to get the Hero of Ukraine and the rank of general. And obviously, the main goal of this good friend, perhaps a friend of Oleksandr Stanislavovych, is to get some exclusively career achievements from this OTG. Because this person does not know how to lead troops. For some reason, Oleksandr Syrskyi did not say anything about Mr. Ledovyi. And Mr. Ledovyi, Colonel Ledovyi, was appointed by Oleksandr Syrskyi to this key area directly from some staff position in the Army Command. This person has never commanded even a brigade in his life. He has no independent command experience during a full-scale war. And this absolutely incompetent, inexperienced person has been kept in office for so long. And it was after Ledovyi's appointment that the defense collapsed and disorganized. And all this advancement in a month is all Ledovyi's fault. This is his mediocre activity that really needs to be investigated. And law enforcement agencies should be sent there. And law enforcement agencies should ask Oleksandr Syrskyi why he appointed his friends, who are absolutely incompetent, and kept them in such a responsible position, a key position in the area. Also, for some reason, Oleksandr Syrsky did not mention another person who constantly calls everyone there, writes orders, and operation instructions. This is General Hnatov, Syrskyi's successor, the commander of the OSGT Khortytsia. But where is General Hnatov himself, why hasn't he been recognized? He was promoted to the rank of major general on Independence Day. Where is this general? Perhaps he received it for some achievements? What kind of achievements? I would like to know. Perhaps he was promoted to major general for this month of failures in the Pokrovsk direction. Volodymyr Zelenskyy obviously likes this kind of command of the troops. And Oleksandr Syrskyi likes it too. That is why General Syrskyi did not mention Ledovyi or Hnatov in his post. They are obviously doing well, there are no complaints about them. But the enemy has made some advances, and the situation has changed, friends. And the enemy had already completely taken Novohrodivka in one day, after this optimistic post, after Oleksandr Syrskyi worked there, the enemy has completely captured Novohrodivka, and almost all of Mykhailivka has been captured, and the information on the location is no longer relevant, it is already for yesterday, it is no longer relevant. So this post raises a lot of questions. And I would like to say about the last paragraph there, what should be done. So, dear friends, when it comes to the distribution of ammunition, when it comes to the allocation of forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, does not need to work in the brigades on the ground. His task is to have his decisions made in Kyiv, not because he came somewhere and gave 100 shells to a brigade on the spot, but because the system works. If Oleksandr Syrskyi is in charge of the Kursk offensive, then planning shells in a direction where the enemy has been attacking for four months, and in a month the enemy has pushed us back 14 kilometers and captured the city, then I personally hoped that shells had been planned there long ago. As well as other means. We see that this is not happening. 

So, dear friends, I want to say something about the situation. There are very fierce battles going on. I'm going to tell you something that may seem so contradictory to people who read these posts on Facebook, the General Staff, and other structures. So, the main problem in this area, so that you understand, is not the endless hordes that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi talks about in his post. From the point of view of our fighters and commanders in this area, the main problem is poor quality, incompetent command of the troops, first of all, of the senior military leadership - the OTG and the OSGT.  These are Colonel Ledovyi and General Hnatov. I would like to illustrate this with the following fact, I emphasize. I communicate with aerial reconnaissance units of all brigades in this area. And I have a lot of information, that is, people simply pass me information about where, how many, how many enemy soldiers, infantrymen they actually record in their reports per day. So the idea is that there are several brigades located in the area, and they have teams of reconnaissance drones, mavic drones, and outposts. They monitor the situation from drones and record what they see. They assign targets for destruction, transmit data to their commanders, and create situational awareness. So, friends, over the past two weeks I can tell you the data that the General Staff or anyone who can communicate with the aerial reconnaissance units of our several brigades in this area can verify for themselves. Every day, our intelligence in the tactical zone, that is, in the enemy's offensive zone, records the advance of about 400 enemy infantrymen on this front. For the last three days, 250-270, so to speak, up to 400 enemy soldiers have been spotted by aerial reconnaissance during the day, and then these 400 are the ones who are storming us. They advance, enter, and whoever the scouts see, 400 soldiers, and even 250 can be seen some days. What does this mean? That the enemy is on such a front, because, look, it's about 15-18 kilometers to 400 on the front. I mean, just imagine what it's really like, it's not like they're all advancing at the same time, but it's a group here, a group there, a group there. There are small assault groups, from three to five people, with almost minimal armored vehicles, up to three or four tanks and armored combat vehicles per day. There are no tank convoys, like in the Kurakhove direction. And there are individual armored vehicles, small groups of infantry, very dispersed, there are attacks by dense enemy drones, it's true. It is really hard to fight there, the enemy is bombing very intensively, drones, aircraft, artillery, mortars, if they notice our positions, our fighters. But the attacks are carried out by small groups of infantry, and I would not say that there are very, very large waves of them, as it might seem when we look at the messages of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. And what do our commanders say? They say that we have the personnel and ammunition to repel attacks from 250 or even 400-500 Russian infantrymen every day. So that on such a large front, even if all these people go on the attack during the day. But for this to really happen, we need organization and interaction. There are no thousands of enemy columns there, no such thing as in Avdiivka in October, for example, on October 2023. When two full brigades went to assault in columns. There are no such large-scale breakthroughs. The enemy is coming in small groups, striking at some of our facilities, where they notice resistance, where they are being fired upon.  They try to destroy our strongholds with drones, hit our communications along the roads with FPV drones, strike at some large buildings, at some objects with air bombs, use artillery, mortars. But these are not such large waves. Such small groups can and should be destroyed, they can be repelled. But what is needed for this? We need the same well-organized, hidden, echeloned combat formations of our small groups. We need timely rotations of soldiers, so that infantry is not deployed there for 2-3 weeks, but people can enter, hide, and disguise themselves, and then replace them, covering them with drones. 

.These drones should not jam our own electronic warfare, it's just an unsolved problem. Colonel Ledovyi cannot solve it, he cannot organize the interaction between drones and electronic warfare. He knows nothing about drones or electronic warfare. He has not commanded troops. Someone needs to lecture him, or better yet, remove the incompetent person. If Oleksandr Syrskyi wants to give all his acquaintances in the Army Command the rank of general, then give them real experience, give the person at least the position of deputy brigadier somewhere. Let this colonel at least see how modern warfare is conducted, he is zero, he knows nothing about it. Then you will promote him to some position. Why is he learning on the blood and lives of other people, on the surrender of Novohrodivka and dozens of other settlements, and then wants to get a reward? For whom is this being done? This is just a show. The situation with the interaction between drones and the EW is very weak. Friend Magyar, who works in this area, he is a really competent person with a competent team, they do their best. But they cannot organize all the troops, do everything. This is impossible, it needs to be built from the top, from the OTG. We also need interaction of firepower. They are there, there is ammunition, and we cannot say that people are sitting there without ammunition load at all. What is the problem? We are fighting in a completely chaotic manner in this area. People are advancing, and some points on the map are being fought over. And these are, I can't say that they are commanders, they are finger-pointers. Ledovyi, the finger-pointing leader, leads his deputies, Hnatov, and they approve some decisions, and then Syrskyi looks at all this and approves it, and he obviously likes it. Some points on the map are wooded areas, our troops are being grinded down, holding on to the last, losing their combat capability, their combat-ready soldiers, and forcing back, forcing back, forcing back. The local commanders have repeatedly appealed to Ledovyi and Oleksandr Syrskyi with a request, a request that they cannot make demands, they can be dismissed for making demands, a request that we deploy our troops at some point in advance, at least a week before the enemy arrives, preferably two weeks, to deploy some troops, They will dig in, equip the positions, because the strongholds that Ms. Mariana is talking about, which are being dug by the civil-military administrations, none of these strongholds are adapted for immediate use, all the passages cannot be blocked, everything that is necessary is not equipped, all this must be completed by the troops, it is necessary to mine, clear the sectors of shelling, burn the plantations before the enemy goes there, just burn them with fire, gasoline, burn them, burn them, uproot the plantations, dig up the sectors of shelling, dig up additional positions, perform ranging fire of all the positions, and then move back a couple of kilometers, five kilometers in one jerk, and then consolidate in these positions, when these small groups, these 3-5 people, no longer attack there, when they send those 3-5 people again, they will simply be systematically destroyed, spotted at a great distance, destroyed by drone and artillery at a great distance, not allowed to reach our infantry, and the infantry will be in reliable shelters. And it will be better protected from enemy artillery fire, from enemy drones, and will have some pre-accumulated supplies at the positions so that people do not have to constantly rotate, so that they can stay there for a long time. It would seem, dear friends, that you don't need to graduate from the academy for this. These are obvious things. We are on the defense. The enemy prevails. The main problems are obvious to us. So let's build a combat order that will allow us to destroy the enemy. No, this is not done. A unit, a battalion, is being deployed to the last. They sit in some point, unequipped, until the last one. And then, when we are knocked out of this point, people retreat chaotically. And even if there is a normal stronghold, they also leave it, because there is no one to hold it. Neither the number nor the quality of people. They are overworked. The infantrymen need to rest. They need to be protected by the way they are treated. Not to hide them from the enemy, but to hide them from injury. To protect them from overwork. This is what it means to protect infantry. To hide them from drones, to protect them with electronic warfare. Not to shoot down our drones with our electronic warfare, which has been happening there for months. Just so you understand, half of our drones are shot down by our own electronic warfare. And Mr. Ledovyi cannot solve this in any way. Because he is, in principle, far from this problem.

Well, friends, this is the reason. And when Oleksandr Syrskyi writes there about what you know, the war will write off everything, they say. Not in huge numbers of crowds of people. There are no more Russian troops advancing in the Pokrovske direction than in the Kurakhove direction. Absolutely. Well, the same number. Perhaps even less equipment. Well, you can hold the enemy, you can destroy him. But there are no planned actions. No one takes up rear positions, no one prepares. They go there at the last moment. That's why there is such a mess, chaos. But Ledovyi and Hnatov's reports are always good. Everything is beautiful, everything is good, everything is tense, controlled. They know everything. Criminal proceedings have been filed against everyone, against their subordinates. All soldiers are bad, officers are bad. Only they, the commanders, are good. That's all. And these operational and tactical departments are not responsible for the result. Operational and strategic management is not responsible for the result. They are finger-pointers. Finger-pointers who are absolutely irresponsible for the fate of people, for lost positions and territories. They think about only one thing - paperwork. And about cleaning up after themselves with these papers, so as not to leave any traces of themselves. Well, this bureaucratic army, this showmanship, these posts, these Facebook posts - it's just depressing. From this post by Oleksandr Syrskyi, I realized that, unfortunately, this manual mode of management does not allow him to manage structural units at all. He simply cannot assess the situation objectively. And his assessment of the situation, unfortunately, what we see in the post, it does not correspond to reality. He does not mention the responsible persons or what needs to be done, even in general terms. Therefore, you know, you can throw a large number of mobilized people there, but if you conduct combat operations with such a management, with such an organization, then, friends, the enemy is already on the threshold, on the outskirts of Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk, Selydove, and these cities will be lost quickly. But I want to say that I will constantly remind those responsible for this mess in the area. If Oleksandr Syrskyi wants to hide in a Volodymyr Zelenskyy style and pretend that I'm not there, or to show with such posts that he is washing his hands of the situation and is not going to change anything, and that he is going to keep these inept people in command positions, well, no one will be silent. And, believe me, they will have to answer for the surrender of Ukrainian cities and towns, for the loss of hundreds of our people in the field, for the hundreds of missing in action in their units because of this inept and chaotic organization of combat operations. This will not be forgotten. It will never be forgotten. War does not allow us to talk about everything, but this does not mean that everything is forgotten. It is not forgotten. 

Now let's answer the questions.

I saw a local news report that the main problem in Novohrodivka, Myrnohrad and Pokrovsk is human resources and shells, not command. Is it true?

If the command is incompetent, then no matter how many shells you give to such a command, they will lose any resource. War is an organizational and management process. The better you organize combat operations, the better you use shells. If you destroy real targets, you spend fewer shells, destroy more targets, and you have enough of them. I mentioned the number of infantry per day. Our aerial reconnaissance has not seen more than 400 infantrymen in the last week in this area of the breakthrough. That is, the defeat of 400 Russians ensures complete paralysis of their offensive actions. At least those we can see. Is it designed? What are the real enemy's losses? Unfortunately, the organization of fire control to hit the enemies we see does not correspond to what is happening on the direction. The same goes for people, friends. Why are there not enough people? We only talk about one problem. We need more people in the army. Friends, this is impossible. There cannot be an infinite number of people in the army. You can increase production of shells, but not people. People must be protected, this is the basis of tactics. People are not just a matter of going outside and recruiting people. You need people who are trained. They need to be prepared. Not for one month in a training center with 30 rounds of ammunition. And it has to be serious training, physical training, so that a person can physically withstand the stress of war, know a lot of skills. A month is actually not enough for such combat conditions. Therefore, if the infantry is not given such training, if they are not given air cover if they do not have competent commanders, if they do not interact with other units, if their flanks are not covered, if they are not protected from drones if they are not in reliable positions that will hide them from artillery, protect their lives, then these infantrymen will run out very quickly. And the number of these infantrymen will no longer matter. Precision weapons can hit a large number of people in a short time. Therefore, in order to spend people, so that the loss of people is still much less than the enemy's losses, and so that the loss of people allows you to stop the enemy, you need high-quality management and organizational decisions. This is what we are talking about, not just numbers. The numbers are there, and a newly formed brigade has been deployed to the area. Oleksandr Syrskyi named it there. The 151st. And not only it. The brigade is absolutely unprepared. It is newly formed, with no core of commanders or combat experience. This is a completely debatable project, why the Land Forces Command is doing this at all. Incomplete combat units, instead of experienced commanders reinforcing the infantry so that our troops can form a second echelon, so that brigades can stand in two echelons, no, combat-capable brigades are grinded down to zero, and then a completely untrained, unprepared, combat-experienced new brigade is sent to the area. What can it do? Very little. It learns from its losses. For a long time. This is absolutely an example of poor use of human and material resources. 

Your broadcast is titled "Why is Pokrovsk being surrendered?", meaning that you accuse the Ukrainian leadership of treason.

If Pokrovsk is surrendered like Novohrodivka was, it is definitely treason. This is a surrender. What happened in Novohrodivka? Three days of fighting in the town. No fortifications. Even Ms. Mariana Bezuhla, a servant of the people, says that this is a crime, that the leadership of Ukraine is committing crimes. With rotations, with the lack of defense of Novohrodivka and Selydove. Even a member of the Defense Committee thinks so, not just me. So, friends, of course, I believe that this is high treason. But the main thing, I would like to say, is not even a betrayal of the territory, but, first of all, people's lives. Look, there were 20 thousand people living in Novohrodivka. Now these people had to leave everything behind. They have lost everything. They have to leave, most of them have to leave, leave everything they have built up in their lives. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are fighting there. Hundreds of dead, missing. Thousands of wounded. How can all of this be done so ineptly, with such losses without results, and the enemy cannot even be stopped. This is a crime. It is a crime.

What do you think of Oleshchuk's resignation?

I have a positive attitude because, in fact, we have a very small number of problems in the management of the troops that are becoming known. Therefore, of course, the removal of responsible leaders who commit gross failures, whose actions are irresponsible, incompetent, and lead to heavy losses, should certainly be immediate resignations. This would be a problem if we did not have competent commanders. We do have competent commanders. And it didn't happen that during a war, the most experienced people accumulate the most experience from the bottom. An infantryman in a trench understands what war is the fastest. Then his company commander. He learns quickly. Then a battalion commander. Then a brigade commander. As for experience, since there is no system of experience transfer in the army, no Ukrainian military leader, no commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces has implemented, as I have always said and will continue to say, the usual standard of all NATO armies. After Action Review. Post-operational analysis. Analysis after the action. They do not learn, generals do not learn. They have no standard to learn from their mistakes. Our generals are afraid to admit their mistakes. Therefore, it is impossible to dismiss them, they do not learn. They sit there, protecting their status. They all run to Zelenskyy's offices and write him correct reports, only there, I don't know how they don't lick him. Just to keep their position. This is always the case with all politicians. Generals are promoted because they have to be loyal, politicians have to love them. There are no professional evaluation criteria. How else can it be removed? So, of course, I support it. There were a lot of failures, unfortunately, it is impossible to talk about all of them. But the country's leadership, which reacts very slowly to failures in this way, well, these will be questions for the political authorities. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has the right to appoint and dismiss all military leaders, and he can do all this instantly. The fact that he does not react, does not react in the meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, is our main problem. No one learns from mistakes. No one wants to. Everyone wants to answer and comment in the evening newscasts, only good things. But there are no problems, they don't notice them. Not because someone thinks that there might be problems, but they just don't voice them there. That's how all their meetings are held. You can't give bad news. Oleksandr Syrskyi fired several brigade commanders for reporting bad news and the situation in a reliable way. And people just stop, and then he appoints some people, like in the 59th Brigade, who are just out of place at all. He just doesn't report bad reports. And that's it. Everyone likes it. This is criminal irresponsibility. 

Bezuhla wrote that Syrskyi was withdrawing the 72nd Brigade from Vuhledar. We all know what happens after such rotations. Tell me, are we snitching Donbas?

I have no information yet about the withdrawal of the 72nd Brigade from Vuhledar. I cannot comment on this. But, of course, Syrskyi's rotations have certainly led to failures in Toretsk and New York. This is a fact. Earlier, the same rotations led to a failure in Soledar. No conclusions have been drawn. And, of course, there is such a risk. But, dear friends, it does not depend on the fact that the brigade is being withdrawn. I think so. We do not have the right concentration of forces in the direction of the enemy's main attacks. I mean, this is a problem of combat employment. The problem is not who gets tired in the brigade. The brigade commander? The headquarters gets tired? First of all, in every brigade, the infantry gets tired. The infantryman gets tired. If infantrymen are replenished in time where the enemy is attacking, and not with people who have just had a month of training with zero knowledge, but with people who will be trained by the brigade itself for at least two months, or better yet, three months. If these are well-trained, fresh people, and the brigade has time and opportunity to rotate in time in the direction of the enemy's main efforts, to restore positions, to have assault units to restore positions, to destroy the enemy, to clean up, such a brigade can last a very long time, and it will be fine. The problem is that a brigade is grinded to a null, then it is thrown away, another one is put in place, and it is also grinded to a null. If these two brigades were put together, in two lines, and they worked in the same system, they would be able to withstand this pressure for much longer, reinforcing each other. And not give the enemy a chance.

Unfortunately, Oleksandr Syrsky is constantly removing. He shuffles these brigade commanders around in packs. He keeps some brigade commanders to the last. We have one brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that Syrskyi has not removed from the very beginning of the war. It is one. In the 57th Brigade. That's all. All the others are changing. There are brigades where Syrsky has already replaced four brigade commanders. There are even five. So this is not surprising at all. It's a constant charade. There is no time to train the troops, no time for cohesion. The tasks are not always adequate at the level of the OTG, OSGT. And then the brigade commander is removed. And then a new one comes in with the same problems. And, you know, it's just a vicious circle. The Land Forces Command has to sort itself out. First and foremost. And Oleksandr Syrskyi should take a look. Do these mass dismissals of brigadiers lead to an improvement in quality? No. He withdrew the 59th Brigade. And what was the result? The new brigade commander appointed by Syrskyi is Bohdan Shevchuk. He completely surrendered his positions. He surrendered Krasnohorivka, Nevelske, Netaylove. And he is still in office. And if you look at it that way, Kosur has heavy losses. But we control most parts of Toretsk. And it's being withdrawn. The brigadier of the 53rd brigade was dismissed. Why was he dismissed? He had just been promoted. They just didn't give him the opportunity to do anything with the brigade. But we still controlled New York. And now we control more than 25% of New York. Where the 53rd had already been deployed during the fighting. It did not enter the outskirts. It had already entered the city when the enemy was there. Why was it withdrawn? Why? What is the logic? I mean, there are favorites. There are those who are allowed to do anything, everything is forgiven. And there are brigadiers who lose a couple of positions and that's it. They don't learn anything. I mean, after Syrskyi removed the 93rd Brigade brigade commander back in 2022, Soledar collapsed. Although he lost, I don't know, a few positions there. Then two brigades were redeployed there, and they couldn't hold anything. In general, the city was lost. Well, some people get away with it because they are good friends. Some people are not forgiven for anything. 

Is the divisional structure more about manageability or about the responsibility of senior commanders?

Both the first and the second. All over the world, and I've written and spoken about this a lot, all armies use it for command, control, responsibility, planning, organization. No one fights in small brigades. What is a brigade? It is a reinforced regiment. Well, there is no mass war in the world history of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries when there are large mobilized armies, the First and Second World Wars, and regiments and brigades fight. Well, there is no such thing anywhere, only in Ukraine. Even Russia - we laugh at the Russian leadership there -but they have divisions at the front, corps, that is, a stable organization of troops. And we have nothing, nothing. Why not? Because it is politically convenient to shuffle all the brigade commanders, to shuffle the commanders of the OTGs. There is neither a stable structure nor responsibility. And I want to tell you that, first of all, now, during the war, the main problem is irresponsibility. There is no division and corps structure because of the irresponsibility of the military and military-political leadership. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief's office should have resolved this issue long ago. If neither Zaluzhnyi nor Syrskyi understood this, they could not solve it. Someone else must have done it. Ask American advisors why the NATO mission is here. Ask any American or NATO general. Is it possible to wage a mass war without divisions, corps and armies? They will tell you. Why is it a problem? Yermak is in Washington. Let Zelenskyy call him now, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych, and ask him. Can he ask the US Secretary of Defense there? Why do you think there are no separate brigades or regiments in the American army? Why are all brigades organized into divisions, divisions into corps? Why is it so? The American army is at war. Unfortunately, no one does anything about such simple questions in our country, because irresponsibility is a characteristic of the entire government, from top to bottom.

Is it possible to get help in organizing military operations from Western partners? Is there anything known about this? Could Syrskyi get mental support from generals of other allied countries?

Friends, perhaps we could get support, but this is just advice. Friends, no one in the world has such experience of modern warfare, such an awareness of the conditions of warfare as we, Ukrainians, have. There is no such thing. We have been waging a war for three years against an enemy that outnumbers us many times over in terms of people, I mean military personnel, weapons, munitions, equipment, all kinds of equipment. We compete with them only in drones. Somewhere they have more, somewhere we have more. But, unfortunately, we cannot say that we have an absolute advantage there. Or a big advantage somewhere. That's why we need to analyze our own experience. Why am I talking about after-action reviews? Because it is a form of learning from your own mistakes. You improve yourself. That is, you recognize your mistakes at the level of the highest command, first of all, this is done. And then you write orders, instructions to change and improve yours and avoid further mistakes. That's how it works.

Now, you had the announcements about the appointments that Syrskyi made at the beginning. They were very encouraging. Now we don't hear about these people. We know about the strange appointments to Sukharevskyi's headquarters. Will you film more?

In the near future, we will be broadcasting about Syrskyi's successes and mistakes. Successes and failures, so to speak. What are the achievements and what are the shortcomings. Let's analyze everything objectively, including the personnel policy. What are the results of this personnel policy? Because a lot of time has passed. It's been six months. And you can't keep hiding behind saying that Zaluzhnyi was there. Syrskyi was in office all this time. He was the commander of the ground forces, then the commander of the OC Khortytsia. And he was one of the top leaders under Zaluzhnyi. Now he understands everything well. He understands all the issues. Now he has all the responsibility. He has to be responsible. The time has passed. So that we can just say. 'Okay, he'll figure it out. We will do it in the near future.

My friends, I am very grateful to you for being with me. I want to tell you that the only thing that encourages me and inspires me with confidence in our victory is that when I am at the front, I talk to people a lot. It is the fact that when I am at the front, I communicate a lot with people in the Pokrovsk direction. Soon I will come there and shoot reports from this area. Dear friends, the main thing that inspires me is that we have a sufficient number of fighters and commanders who are able to stop and defeat the enemy and change this catastrophic situation at the front with adequate management. And this must be done. Therefore, despite all these failures, I am sure that we, civil society, have the opportunity to put pressure on the government, to force it to make the right, adequate decisions that we do not see. Unfortunately, with such kind of publicity. Unfortunately, they do not understand otherwise. But we are a democratic country, we are a strong country with passionate people, a country with a large number of heroes and military professionals. And we can win this war. And today, as never before, I am convinced of this. Thank you very much. Glory to Ukraine!