By Rostyslav Averchuk
Lviv, Ukraine, Dec 14 (EFE).- Ukraine replaced the head of its army’s regional command in the Donetsk region, General Oleksandr Lutsenko, with General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi in an attempt to improve the situation near Pokrovsk and south of Kurakhove, where its forces are beginning to retreat in fear of encirclement.
Ukrainian forces had to abandon some positions near Sukhi Yaly and Veselyi Gai, 10 km (six miles) from Kurakhove, due to the enemy’s destruction of defensive positions, the Ukrainian Operational-Strategic Group of Forces “Khortytsia” said on Saturday.
According to the DeepState platform, Russian forces captured the villages of Veselyi Gai, Romanivka, and Yelysavetivka. In the previous few days, the situation there and in the nearby villages of Gannivka and Uspenivka became critical, with the Ukrainian forces finding themselves partially encircled.
Along with the continued setbacks near Pokrovsk, this led to the dismissal of General Oleksandr Lutsenko and the appointment of General Tarnavskyi as head of the “Donetsk” Operational Tactical Group, according to reports in the Ukrainian media on Friday.
Mixed expectations
Military correspondent Yuriy Butusov stressed on his YouTube channel that the decision has been long awaited, although it is not clear whether it will have an immediate positive impact on the battlefield.
Tarnavskyi has a mixed military record, having led the successful Kherson counter-offensive in the autumn of 2022 and the underwhelming summer counter-offensive of 2023.
His extensive experience could help stabilize the situation in the region where the Russian forces have intensified their progress recently.
If General Tarnavskyi is an independent figure and knows what to do, he will immediately order the Ukrainian troops to retreat from the area near Uspenivka and Gannivka, Butusov underlined.
However, his predecessor is not the only one responsible for the difficult situation near Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, Butusov added.
General Andriy Gnatov, head of the Joint Defense Forces, and Ukraine’s army commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi have been directly involved in the defense of Donetsk, he said.
Flawed decisions
According to military analysts who spoke to EFE, Ukraine has been focusing on maximizing losses among the Russian army while limiting Russian advances for as long as possible.However, on certain occasions, Ukrainian military command held onto clearly indefensible positions, eventually leading to hasty and costly retreats, critics said.
The situation near Uspenivka resulted from “inaction or incomprehensible actions” by the military command in Donetsk, DeepState underlined.Remaining there for so long made no sense, with zero hopes of retaining them and Ukrainian troops suffering more losses than the Russians, Butusov also noted.
According to him, while Ukraine expends its troops in hopeless situations like this one, it lacks the forces to man the fortifications near key Russian targets such as Pokrovsk where Russian forces recently advanced without meeting sufficient opposition in Shevchenko.Ukraine’s forces in the region are overextended, which exacerbates the personnel shortage and helps Russia infiltrate between the Ukrainian positions, military analysts stressed.
Russian progress in Kurakhove has slowed down recently yet Ukraine will eventually have to leave it, they say.
Looking for solutions
Ukraine would benefit from withdrawing to a more defensible straight line between Velyka Novosilka and Pokrovsk, in the west of the region, Sergiy Grabskyi, a reserve colonel in the Ukrainian army, recently told EFE.
The quality of defensive fortifications remains in the spotlight of public debate yet there are no problems in this regard anywhere along the frontline, Colonel Volodymyr Husar, a deputy chief engineer of the Ukrainian army, assured on Friday.
The Ukrainian command must urgently ensure that the information flowing within the army accurately reflects the situation on the battlefield and that senseless orders are avoided, Butusov and other critical voices stressed.
The recent appointment of a well-respected general, Mykhailo Drapatyi, to head the ground forces could help address a few systemic problems, such as the quality of military leadership, training, and recruitment.“We must achieve a double victory: over the enemy and everything that hinders the transformation of the army,” he underlined at the meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. EFE
ra/dgp