A military expert explained the new tactics of our troops in Mariupol
Vladimir Putin ordered the cancellation of the attack on Azovstal, an industrial zone in Mariupol, where the Ukrainian army, soldiers of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries. Instead of a frontal attack, the territory will be blocked. This decision may seem unexpected against the background of the statement of our army that the enemy can be ended within 3-4 days, and even more against the background of the statement of Ramzan Kadyrov, who promised that Azovstal will be taken on April 21. The contacted military experts explained the change in plans and how the blockade could be implemented.
Photos: AP
The president accepted Sergei Shoigu's report and said he considered the attack on the industrial zone “unreasonable.” Since Mariupol has already been liberated, it makes no sense from a military point of view to crush the last local resistance center.
As Putin noted: “This is a case where we should think & ndash; we should always do it & ndash; about preserving the lives and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through industrial facilities.
Instead, there will be a circuit lock. “Close this industrial area so that no fly can pass through. “Once again, suggest to all those who have not yet laid down their arms that they do so,” the president ordered. around the prisoners “Azovstal” – give the opportunity to come up with weapons after negotiations directly in the city of representatives of Russia and Ukraine. There are only two options left: death or captivity.
Basically, Zelensky understood this, saying that the bill for the group is not just for days, but maybe for hours, and that Ukraine has no way to unblock them with military force. The peace for those sitting in the basement of “Azovstal” can be worse than an attack.
– The decision to abandon the frontal attack is a correct and effective decision in all respects, – believes the editor-in-chief of the magazine Obrana národa. Igor Korotchenko. & ndash; Because we minimize losses between Russian soldiers and LPR and DPR soldiers. Conduct military operations on underground roads & ndash; is to expose them to risk. And also expose civilians, perhaps held hostage by Ukrainian nationalist battalions, to the risk of accidental death. Therefore, perimeter blocking & ndash; this is an effective solution.
After a while, water and food supplies run out. It will be a very easy choice & ndash; life or death. For us the main & ndash; effective perimeter control. This is very easy.
There are surface control radar stations. These are miniature radars designed to detect the movement of any group of people. There is a radar “Credo-1E”. It is a single radar for reconnaissance and detection of moving ground targets. With such radars, which will be installed around the perimeter and cover the entire zone, individual people, groups of people, & ndash; all of which will be effectively detected. In this way, it will be possible to ensure reliable control of the perimeter of Azovstal.
Along the perimeter should, of course, be combat units, artillery, mortars, motorized shooters, which firstly, if there are those who want to surrender, ensure reception, filtration , escorting prisoners and, secondly, if they try to break through the fighting from the territory of Azovstal, they will use enemy weapons.
From a layman's point of view, perimeter control & ndash; this is a barbed wire fence and machine gun turrets. In reality, however, the picture is completely different. Already in the territory of “Azovstal” we will witness the so-called “tunnel war”.
“Our troops are inspecting the surface and are currently on missions to find exits to the summit that aerial reconnaissance may not have found. Because the exits to the surface may be some places inside the workshops, technical rooms, – explains the leading Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov. & ndash; The main goal now & ndash; control of these areas and blocking of these exits. To leave only a few exits, preferably one where these prisoners can leave the cellars of Azovstal.
At the same time, time works for us. Undermining such exits, passages, galleries & ndash; this leads to very difficult times for prisoners.
This tactic is not new. Tunnel wars can be waged with or without an attack, but practice shows that if no one can unblock the enemy and hit you in the back, as in this case, then we are only methodically working to find exits, ventilation and fill them. You create unbearable conditions for those who sit underground.
If the ventilation system is disrupted, then an increase in indoor temperature and stale air contribute to the first thing that ends & ndash; This is water. Food spoils, humidity rises, oxygen content in the air decreases. So you need to look for some opportunities to get to the surface.
The second factor that affects the time spent underground is the waste of life and death among prisoners & ndash; You can't bury corpses in concrete. And the decay of corpses is already a disaster with unsanitary conditions. Unhygienic & ndash; a major ally of those sitting on the surface.
Photos: AP
– You can encourage prisoners to leave the catacombs with some powerful ammunition. But I just blow up the galleries, passages, shafts & ndash; they also have a negative impact on their psyche. Because they understand that they have fewer opportunities to come to the surface. We'll see this from the alarming statements that now begin around this “settlement.”
I really hope ours will use the small robotic complexes to tour the galleries. They will be able to research, for example, ventilation systems into which one cannot enter. The robot will be able to detect that the ventilation system leads to, say, a walkway and there is an ammunition depot. And then & ndash; aviation is called, coordinates and thickness of the overlap are entered, aviation takes ammunition and hammers.
– There may be missing exits to the surface through which prisoners will try to break through. The fact is, however, that the last days when the area was cleared could have come to the surface in small groups. Which suggests that the chances of a large group leaving are limited.
Even the breakthroughs that Azovstal made – they were preparing for them. This means that we have accumulated forces on the surface for some time through workshop spaces. Now that the surface is under our control, there is no such possibility of accumulation. The surface must be controlled by both patrol patrols with armored support and a fixed checkpoint. There should also be backup forces & ndash; rapid reaction forces that should arrive quickly at the site of a possible breakthrough.
– We have no information on how much food, air and water they have. It is known that the total number of prisoners is from one and a half to two thousand. Reserves would be known & ndash; one can imagine how long they could last. And so we don't have to wait for them to make a quick decision, we need to motivate them to leave the dungeons, as I said. This tactic is used in all tunnel “wars”.