On August 10, a battalion-sized strike force supported by artillery and armor of the Russian-led “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) attempted to break through Ukrainian lines at Starohnativka, on the distant approaches to Mariupol from the north. This attack came promptly after Ukraine had declined to sign the new document on military disengagement measures, which Russia and its proxies most recently proposed in the Minsk Contact Group (see accompanying article).
Starohnativka’s heights command the Donetsk-Mariupol highway, a possible avenue for enveloping and attacking Mariupol from the north. The site forms a part of the Ukrainian defense “Sector M” (Mariupol).Ukrainian forces at Starohnativka …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation