Ukrainian activist and one of the largest FPV drone suppliers, Sternenko, on the collapse of the Pokrovsk front: “Defense on the Pokrovske direction is so disorganized that even the Russians themselves don’t believe in their own advances…”

9 comments

1. >Defense on the Pokrovske direction is so disorganized that even the Russians themselves don’t believe in their own advances.

   >Unfortunately, reports to higher command still claim a “controlled situation,” which is far from controlled.

   >Key problems in this direction include:

   >* Poor coordination between brigades and smaller adjacent units.
   * A shortage of personnel and disproportionate distribution of them in defensive positions.
   * Our electronic warfare (EW) is suppressing our own drones better than the enemy’s EW.
   * Disorganization in brigade rotations. One brigade may leave before another has arrived, which the enemy exploits by striking at these gaps.
   * Operational-tactical unit (OTU) command is effectively not managing the troops, has not established coordination, and lacks information about our real positions. There are frequent cases where units are sent to positions that are already in the rear of the Russians, because OTU thinks they are still under our control.
   * Lies, lies, and more lies.

2. People kept laughing at the slow pace of Russian advances and said they might be in Kiev at the end of the century while people who pointed out that things might go slowly and then suddenly escalate when a front is broken where mass downvoted and ridiculed. All the while saying the Russians had no water, no equipment, no drones, no tanks and would mass surrender any moment.

3. This is disheartening. I hope this isn’t the beginning of a frontline collapse. If the west would grow a fuckin pair and let Ukraine hit juicy targets inside Russia, things could be different.

4. All but few millions of Ukrainians are given up, and just waiting for president to give up.

5. We have seen Ukraine propaganda used to trick Russia into attacking supposed weak Ukraine defense. Could this be one of those?

6. I take a wait and see approach to this.

7. It baffles me how Zaluzhnyi was replaced with a Russian that happened to find himself in Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed, who is not only disliked by the troops (hence his nickname), but his whole family back in Russia is insanely Z.

8. It seems self-defeating for officers to pass false/rosy information up the chain of command for the sake of their careers when losing the war means no military career afterwards, at least within the Ukrainian chain of command.

9. This is not good.