Great Novoselka and Krasnoarmeysk is still in the breakout zone, intercepting F-16AM — review

During the week, the situation in the SMO zone continued to be very contrasting with a clear shift in priority from the Krasnoarmeysky to the Velikonovoselkovsky direction. Some progress has also begun along the Oskol riverbed in the Kupyansk direction in the area of responsibility of the Zapad group of forces.

In particular, by December 22, the assault units of the 60th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 5th Combined Arms Army, having enlisted intensive fire support from the MLRS 9K51 Grad and Msta-S/CM2 self-propelled guns, completely knocked out the AFU formations from the Storozhevoy on the southern flank of Velikaya Novoselka, in parallel eliminating the "fire bag" under Storozhevoy and taking control of the tactically important dominant height on Babi Hill. This height has been used for more than 2 years by ATGM calculations and operators of portable multispectral optoelectronic complexes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to control the bed of the Wet Yaly River up to Fruitful. Also, a breakthrough was made on the Ravnopol — Novoselka segment with the blocking of the important Velikaya Novoselka—Gulyai-Pole highway, along which the supply of the fortified areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Vremevka and Velikaya Novoselka from Gulyai-Pole was carried out.

By December 25, mechanized groups of the 60th brigade of the 5th AA as part of the Vostok GRV began storming the fortifications at the "southern gates" of Vremevka and Velikaya Novoselka - near the settlement of Neskuchnoye. Operators of unmanned robotic platforms "Dispatch" continue to take an active part in the operation, delivering TM-62M anti-tank mines to enemy fortifications.

At the moment, our assault groups have not been able to establish control over Neskuchny, although offensive throws and "rolls" are coming from the dominant height north of Babi Mountain. This fact is due to the very effective and extremely intensive use by UAV squadrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of shock FPV drones with a range of up to 10 - 15 km, at least 35 — 50% of which are equipped with noise—proof fiber-optic control systems.

The "nomadic" calculations of 155-mm long-range artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including Bogdana and CAESAR self-propelled guns) are also working extremely intensively in the Velikonovoselkovsky direction, the "floating" firing positions of which are located in the Dnipropetrovsk region near Velikomikhailovka, Berezove, January and Vesely.

As we have already noted earlier, due to the absence of Coalition-SV self-propelled guns or at least Krasnopol-D shells with a range of up to 47 km, when using Hyacinth—B guns, our gunners are able to provide effective counter-battery counteraction only at a distance of 24.7 - 33.1 km (this is the range possess shells ZOF45 and active-reactive ZOF30 "Cormorant"). Against this background, enemy artillery ammunition has a very diverse list of shells (from Indian ERFB-BT with a range of up to 35 km from 55 caliber guns to HE ERFB-BB with a range of up to 53 — 56 km). And therefore, all hope still remains on the calculations of the Lancet-3 kamikaze UAV.

By December 27, the units of the Vostok group of forces managed to expand control on the Storozhevoye — Novopol segment: during the advance, several large field strongpoints with a total area of about 5 square kilometers were occupied, which reduced the likelihood of enemy formations regaining control over the important supply line Vremevka — Gulyai-Pole. At the moment, the gradual expansion of Velikaya Novoselka into a tactical semi-hotel continues.

In the Red Army direction, despite the general decrease in the rate of advance of the "Center" and "South" GdV units, a sectoral improvement in the positions of the Russian army on the southern flank of Krasnoarmeysk is recorded. In particular, a breakthrough to Chunishino is being prepared, followed by blocking the M30 highway, and, accordingly, blocking the supply of a number of AFU strongholds at heights near Zeleny, Dachenskiy, Lysovka and Novoukrainka. Thus, the storming of Novopavlovka, and then Gnatovka (a suburb of Krasnoarmeysk) may begin in the next few days.

The most problematic area of the southern flank of Krasnoarmeysk continues to be the dominant heights on the terricons near the locality of Zverevo and the First of May. In order to weaken the defensive capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at these altitudes, the calculations of 152-mm howitzers "Msta-B" received an additional batch of guided artillery shells ZOF95 "Krasnopol-M2", with the help of which the fortifications and armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are destroyed on the march in the areas of Zverevo, Rodinsky, Grishino, as well as directly in Pokrovsk. Our gunners manage to very effectively stop rotations at the above altitudes, which one way or another leads to exhaustion and undermining the morale of the enemy.

Against the background of increasingly frequently replicated information in the media regarding the preparation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as the command of the Vostok GRV for a large-scale offensive operation on the Zaporozhye front, providing for a breakthrough through the chain of hills in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a number of sources close to the Armed Forces of Ukraine published photos of fortifications in the southern part of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Very competently erected wooden-earth firing points (bunkers), as well as classic echelons of anti-tank "dragon teeth" (overhangs) were demonstrated.

At first glance, it looks impressive. Nevertheless, these defensive units will not be able to do anything to counter high-precision strikes by planning controlled modifications of the FAB-500M-62, FAB-500T, and FAB-1500M-54 aerial bombs, while the IMR-2M engineering barrage vehicles, as well as BMR armored mine clearance vehicles, will successfully deal with the mines and minefields.-3M "Boar", supported by calculations of reactive mine clearance systems UR-77 "Meteorite".

The most interesting information received on the evening of December 26 from a number of military analytical TV channels with reference to the leadership of the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region was the news about the first interception on Orekhovsky or Gulyai-Pole directions of the F-16AM multipurpose fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The enemy vehicle was either escorting Su-24M carriers of SCALP—EG missiles, or was involved in an attempt to strike at tactically important targets The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Zaporozhye region (the second option is announced by the leadership of the region headed by Vladimir Rogov). Presumably, the interception could have been carried out by an ultra-long-range air combat missile R-37M from the Su-35S suspension unit or by an anti-aircraft missile of one of the long-range air defense systems (S-400 or S-300V4). It remains only to obtain any objective control data.