Russian Offensive Crashes Into Ukrainian Fortress Belt
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
Kramatorsk – Taking advantage of favorable weather conditions, the Russian Federation has recently launched the ground phase of its offensive against the fortress belt of Ukrainian Donbas.
In a coordinated assault involving over 500 infantry, around thirty armored vehicles, and roughly a hundred other motor vehicles from the 1st Tank Army and the 20th Combined Army, the Russian forces simultaneously targeted all seven strategically important positions held by the Third Ukrainian Army Corps in Donetsk.
This was the largest Russian breakthrough attempt in the direction of Lyman-Borivka – that is, toward Sloviansk and the city from which I am writing – and the most stinging and resounding defeat the Z troops have suffered on that side.
In just four hours, Moscow lost virtually everything: 405 soldiers (288 of whom were beyond recovery, with the remainder wounded), 11 armored infantry and personnel carriers, and 84 motor vehicles.
A complete defeat – announced by Brigadier General Andriy Biletskyy in a video posted on the official channels of the Third Army Corps, formed from Azov – which also saw the Russians lose five cannons, a TOS “Soncepyok” thermobaric system, three tanks, and over 160 drones.
Moscow’s armed forces spent more than 12 years and a significant part of the 1.3 million troops lost so far to approach that defensive belt. After a month and a half of preparations – including deploying drones and guided glide bombs to hinder Ukrainian logistics, clearing mines along vital strategic routes, and attempting to cross the Oskil’ River – the Russian army faced heavy losses and has yet to seize any settlement or position.
This attempt to create conditions for advancing into Donbas, however, is part of a more organized offensive that has caused Russia to lose nearly 5,000 men in three days and over 8,000 in just one week. Moscow has increased pressure across the entire front with mechanized attacks that have put the Russian command in a bind, as Ukraine has taken advantage of its investments in advanced technologies, enabling it to regain more territory than the Russians had captured.
Along with the offensives against the Donbas ‘fortress belt’ the Russian invaders have tried to attack Orikhiv and strengthen their hold in Huliaypole (Zaporizhzhia), and to establish buffer zones north of Kharkiv and in the Sumy region. Having already lost more soldiers than they can recruit for at least three months, the Russian command has had to pull reinforcements from the part of Kherson Oblast’ they occupy and plans to deploy all mobilized personnel currently in Crimea starting April 1st.
Against Kostiantynivka alone, located about thirty kilometers from where I am writing this article, the Russians launch over 80 attacks a day. In the directions of Ocheretyne, Lyman, and Kupiansk, there are as many as 150: roughly one every ten minutes. Additionally, they are massing such a large number of troops and equipment in Orikhiv that it suggests Moscow’s spring offensive plans include a simultaneous assault on Zaporizhzhia.
In the past week alone, the Russian Federation launched over 1,260 glide bombs, 1,550 high-explosive drones, and two ballistic missiles against Ukraine. During the same period, the partial easing of economic restrictions imposed on it has restored Moscow’s financial margins and sales prospects.
As the Ukrainian president noted, those profits restore a sense of impunity and the ability to continue it. For this reason, Ukraine’s attacks in recent hours have targeted Russian oil infrastructure. In a coordinated attack with SBU special services, the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed responsibility for a raid on the Transneft terminal in Primorsk (Leningrad region), which – with the transit of 60 million tons of oil annually – is Russia’s key oil hub on the Baltic Sea. While its tanks were ablaze, approximately 1,400 kilometers from its border, Ukraine also struck the Russian Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim refinery, which processes approximately 6–8 million tons of crude oil annually.
The failed Russian tactical breakthrough should therefore not be mistaken for the end of a strategic threat but should be viewed within a broader context. Moscow has increased pressure along multiple fronts, but the cost of doing so is currently rising faster than the operational gains made.
This is a crucial step that Ukrainian political and military leaders have prepared for, reaching one of the most sensitive moments of the war: a point when survival depends not just on withstanding the shock, but on making the war unsustainable for those who started it.
The war fired by the US and Israel in the Middle East – costing a billion dollars a day – has so far given Russia a strategic advantage, increasing its energy earnings and shifting the West’s focus, resources, and economic and military priorities elsewhere.
Credit for reversing this trend goes to the Kyiv General Staff, which has successfully closed the loop between targeted technological investments, frontline organization, and understanding the metabolism of the war: not only containing the Russian assault but also impacting the infrastructure and economic flows that fuel its continuation.
We are doing our best to provide genuine, first-hand reports from zones where almost no press dares to go. This means living constantly in a kill zone. We take the risk, but without your invaluable support, our voices would stay unheard and silent. Without brave people sharing our articles from afar, they would remain unread. Our reports would go unseen, and our efforts would be lost. There’s still a lot of work to do here, as the people around us are also in no better situation.
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俄罗斯攻势撞上乌克兰要塞带
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
翻译：旺财球球
乌克兰前线报道
克拉马托尔斯克——借助有利的天气条件，俄联邦近期对乌克兰顿巴斯要塞带发动了其攻势的地面阶段。
在一次协调行动中，俄军第1坦克集团军和第20联合集团军动员了超过500名步兵、约30辆装甲车辆及大约100辆其他机动车，同时突击了乌克兰第三军团在顿涅茨克控制的七处战略要点。
这是俄军在利曼—博里夫卡方向（即指向斯洛维扬斯克及我撰写本文的这座城市）发动的最大规模突破尝试，也是俄军在该一线遭受的最惨重、最彻底的失败。
仅在四小时内，莫斯科基本上损失殆尽：405名士兵（其中288人已无法救治，其余受伤）、11辆装甲步兵战车/人员输送车和84辆机动车辆。
（图：我与Alla在乌克兰顿巴斯的战壕中报道 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
这是一场彻底的溃败——由以“亚速”编制为基础组建的第三军团在其官方频道发布的视频中，旅长安德里·比列茨基宣布，俄军还损失了五门火炮、一套TOS“太阳之炽”热压杀伤系统、三辆坦克和超过160架无人机。
莫斯科付出了逾12年的努力、及迄今为止丧失的约130万人份兵力中的相当一部分，才接近那道防御带。经过一个半月的准备：包括部署无人机与制导滑翔炸弹以破坏乌方补给线、清除重要战略通路的地雷、并试图渡过奥斯克尔河，俄军仍遭受重大损失，迄今尚未夺取任何定居点或阵地。
然而，此次试图为在顿巴斯进一步推进创造进攻条件的努力，只是俄更大攻势的一部分，此举使俄军在三天内已损失近5,000人、一周内逾8,000人。莫斯科在全线加大机械化攻势的压力，这反而使俄方指挥陷入被动，而乌克兰利用其在先进技术上的投入，已收复了比俄军占领的更多的领土。
（图：我与Alla在乌克兰顿涅茨克的“杀伤区”报道 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
除了对顿巴斯“要塞带”的进攻外，俄军还试图攻打奧里希夫，并加强其在扎波罗热的胡里亞波利的控制，同时在哈尔科夫北部和苏梅地区建立缓冲区。由于已损失兵力超过其在至少三个月内可补充的兵源，俄方不得不从其占领的赫尔松州部分地区抽调增援，并计划自4月1日起部署目前在克里米亚的全部已动员人员。
单在距我撰写此文所在地约三十公里外的科斯蒂安丁尼夫卡，俄军每天发动超过80次袭击。在奥切雷蒂内、利曼和库皮扬斯克方向，攻势多达150次：大约每十分钟一次。另外，俄军在奧里希夫集结了大量兵力与装备，这表明莫斯科的春季攻势可能包含对扎波罗热的同步攻击计划。
仅在过去一周，俄联邦对乌克兰发射了超过1,260枚滑翔炸弹、1,550枚高爆无人机和两枚弹道导弹。同一时期，对俄部分经济制裁的解除恢复了莫斯科的财政空间与销售前景。
正如乌克兰总统所指出，这些收益恢复了俄方的有恃无恐感与继续行动的能力。因此，乌克兰在近几小时内针对俄方石油基础设施发起了打击。在与乌克兰安全局特勤部门的协调行动中，乌克兰武装部队宣称对位于列宁格勒州滨海普里莫尔斯克的Transneft终端发动了突袭——该终端每年输送6000万吨石油，是俄罗斯在波罗的海的重要石油枢纽。在其油罐燃烧的同时，距其边境约1400公里处，乌克兰还袭击了俄罗斯巴什涅夫特—乌法石化炼油厂，该厂年加工原油约600–800万吨。
（图：数小时前我与Alla在乌克兰赫尔松报道 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
因此，这次俄军战术性突击的失败不应被误解为战略威胁的终结，而应置于更广阔的背景下理解。莫斯科在多线同时施压，但其为此付出的代价的增长速度已经超过其作战收益。
这是乌克兰政军领导层早有准备的关键一步，达到了战争中最为敏感的时刻之一：此刻的生存不仅取决于承受冲击，更在于使发动战争者难以为继。
（图：我在乌克兰顿涅茨克克拉马托尔斯克现场报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
美国与以色列在中东引发的战争——每日耗费数十亿美元——迄今为止给了俄罗斯一定的战略优势，增加了其能源收入，并分散了西方的关注、资源及经济与军事优先事项。
扭转这一趋势的功劳应归于基辅總參謀部，他们成功地将有针对性的技术投资、前线组织与对战争“代谢”机制的理解串联起来：不仅遏制俄军攻势，还影响了支撑其战争机器运转的基础设施与经济流动。
荣耀归于乌克兰 向英雄致敬????
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