Rail made it convenient to set it up as a defensive strongpoint and supply base when this was planned prior to the war.
Izyum, the focal point on the opposite flank of the Donetsk LOC in the North just as Volnovakha has been in the south, where there was also very heavy fighting. In addition to being on the east-west Donets River, Izyum is also on a rail line connecting Kharkiv to the DNR LOC. You can see the North-South Oskil river on that rail map to help locate Izyum (a bit NW of Slavyansk), as Izyum is not marked on that map.
UA seems to be actively contesting attempted RF encirclement of the large UA force entrenched on the Donetsk LOC. Contesting it on both on the North and South flanks of LOC. Intensity of recent fighting in Volnovakha and Izyum suggests fighting on the west side of the LOC could be more of a drawn out and unfortunately bloody affair, contrary to what some observers believed at the beginning of this week.
The rail map, possibly, might suggest additional lines where it would have been convenient for UA to set up east-west defensive positions or hubs.
Finally, the video ends with hope for “solving the Ukraine problem once and for all”? Ukrainian beef with Russia has been going on for a full century. Genuine colonial-type grievances are intermixed with reactionary-nationalist elements, absorbed in each of the several violent episodes in Ukraine’s unique historical context. Not sure how this is going to disappear, unfortunately. At the moment they are being baked in for the next generation. Nor would the economic disruptions from a rekindled no-longer-cold war, be likely go away so soon, IMO.
correction – points southWest*
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Analysis & Book Reviews on U.S. Foreign Policy and Russia
strikingly unpretentious and not dogmatic – seems to have wide-ranging sources so is easy to listen to….
Among other things, Volnovakha is a rail junction, connecting Donetsk to points SouthEast (ie Crimea)
http://bueker.net/trainspotting/maps/ukraine/ukraine.gif
Rail made it convenient to set it up as a defensive strongpoint and supply base when this was planned prior to the war.
Izyum, the focal point on the opposite flank of the Donetsk LOC in the North just as Volnovakha has been in the south, where there was also very heavy fighting. In addition to being on the east-west Donets River, Izyum is also on a rail line connecting Kharkiv to the DNR LOC. You can see the North-South Oskil river on that rail map to help locate Izyum (a bit NW of Slavyansk), as Izyum is not marked on that map.
UA seems to be actively contesting attempted RF encirclement of the large UA force entrenched on the Donetsk LOC. Contesting it on both on the North and South flanks of LOC. Intensity of recent fighting in Volnovakha and Izyum suggests fighting on the west side of the LOC could be more of a drawn out and unfortunately bloody affair, contrary to what some observers believed at the beginning of this week.
The rail map, possibly, might suggest additional lines where it would have been convenient for UA to set up east-west defensive positions or hubs.
Finally, the video ends with hope for “solving the Ukraine problem once and for all”? Ukrainian beef with Russia has been going on for a full century. Genuine colonial-type grievances are intermixed with reactionary-nationalist elements, absorbed in each of the several violent episodes in Ukraine’s unique historical context. Not sure how this is going to disappear, unfortunately. At the moment they are being baked in for the next generation. Nor would the economic disruptions from a rekindled no-longer-cold war, be likely go away so soon, IMO.
correction – points southWest*