Today, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine officially confirmed the liberation of Robotyne from the russian occupiers. The MoD also added that Ukrainian troops are now moving in the direction of Novoprokopivka and Ocheretuvate. This, in turn, may mean the beginning of fighting on the first line of concrete fortifications of the russian occupiers in the South, also known as the "Surovikin line" that is equipped with so called "pyramids".
At this point, many readers may get confused, because prior to this there were already reports in Ukrainian media, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had already broken through the enemy's first line of defense and were advancing to the second one. And here it is worth separately detailing how these two lines of fortifications of the russian occupiers differ from each other. A map with the appropriate markings from OSINT analyst Def Mon will help us with this.
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As this map shows, it is in the area of Novoprokopivka that the first line of fortifications of the so-called "Surovikin line" begins, and in the area of Ocheretuvato - the second line of fortifications.
These enemy fortifications are distinguished by the fact that trenches were created there in advance. Concrete fortifications prevail here. The minefields are also quite dense - the russians installed them with the aim of preventing the breakthrough of Ukrainian troops on this part of the front.
All the fortifications and other elements of the enemy's defense, which until now have been successfully breached by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, can be called the "first line of defense" (because in some ways it is), but it is more correct to call it the "defense support line".
The difference of this line of defense lies in the fact that the fortifications there were mostly improvised, the so-called "fox holes" prevailed. The minefields were also quite dense, but their task was primarily to reduce the space for the maneuver of Ukrainian armored vehicles, the main damage was supposed to be carried out with the help of artillery, army aviation and Lancet-type loitering munition"
Up to this point, assessments with reference to the ISW were heard in the public space, as if after the breakthrough of the enemy's defenses near Robotine, forward movement would become easier for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But there are hardly any grounds for such assertions, especially if we take into account the fact that the Ukrainian troops just now began to press against the line of the most complex russian fortifications, that is, the same "Surovikin line".
The enemy's defenses at different depths have different structures, and this must be taken into account in time when assessing the current situation on the battlefield.
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