by DAVID AXE
Late last year, the Russian Center Group of Forces took advantage of a thick winter fog to make a final—and successful—mechanized push into the ruins of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
The advance into Pokrovsk triggered a series of Russian attacks across the gray zone in Donetsk. All cloaked in a thick fog that obscured Russian troops and vehicles from Ukrainian surveillance and attack. The Russians eventually captured Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad and also breached Kostyantynivka.
The foggy attacks cracked a line of urban defenses safeguarding Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the last big free cities in Donetsk—and set conditions for ongoing Russian efforts to open southern routes toward the free cities.
A year later, the fog is back and the Russians are once again pushing hard. As the fog settled over Donetsk on or just before Nov. 11, Russian mechanized forces rolled toward the towns of Dobropillya and Druzhkivka. The former sits astride the T0514 highway threading north toward Kramatorsk, 20 miles away. The latter sits astride the H20 highway also threading north toward Kramatorsk, but just five miles away.
