Ukrainians Reportedly Open Fire On Ukrainians As Territorial Battalion Panics And Flees.

Did we just observe the first deployment of a Ukrainian blocking unit?

The 102nd Territorial Brigade in training. 102nd Territorial Brigade photo

The town of Hulyaipole anchors Ukrainian defenses in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. All eyes are on the ruins of the adjacent towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, in Donetsk Oblast 50 miles north of Hulyaipole—and for good reason. The Russian Center Group of Forces has massed 150,000 troops in its (successful) effort to capture the towns and open a path toward the free cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in western Donetsk.

But the Russians’ most dramatic gains this year haven’t been in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. No, they’re seized the most ground—perhaps 1,000 square miles, roughly .4% of Ukraine—across the fields and villages east of Hulyaipole.

Ukrainian defenses around Hulyaipole are thin and disorganized. One demoralized unit, the 102nd Territorial Brigade, garrisons the town itself while a few other territorial and mechanized brigades and battalions hold the open ground to the north along a loose defensive line roughly following the main road between Hulyaipole and what’s left of Pokrovsk.

How bad is the situation around Hulyaipole for the Ukrainians? So bad that, according to one observer, the Ukrainian military has—for the first time—deployed a “blocking unit” whose job it is to stop other units from retreating without orders.