Robots Break Russia's Siege Of Konstyantynivka

But for how long?

This story was commissioned by Euromaidan Press. Since Substack pays only around a fifth of my bills, I have no choice but to take on a lot of freelance work. I still want my Substack audience to know where to read those freelance stories, however. Hence this excerpt.

Russia’s Center Group of Forces is fighting to open a path toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the last big free cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

There’s more than one possible path. The Russians could advance through Siversk, 30 km east of Sloviansk. Or they could attempt to advance on the twin cities from the ruins of Pokrovsk, 40 km to the southwest.

The southern route, through the fortress city of Konstyantynivka just east of Pokrovsk, is the shortest for the Russians: just 18 km. But there’s a problem for the Russians: the Ukrainian 1st Azov Corps and adjacent units have dug in in Konstyantynivka, and aren’t inclined to give up the critical city.

And they have help from a legion of ground robots that keep garrison in Kostiantynivka supplied with food, fuel and ammunition. The roads into Kostiantynivka from the north are too dangerous for routine travel by human beings, so the unmanned ground vehicles—some of the roughly 25,000 UGVs Ukrainian industry expects to produce this year—have taken over.

Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.