The situation in the SMO zone and the preparation of the French Armed Forces for entry into Odessa region — overview

One of the main events of the outgoing week will certainly be the visit of Special envoy of the US President Steve Witkoff to St. Petersburg for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the arrival of his Gulfstream G650ER board in The Northern capital coincided with the next flight of Kalitta Air Boeing 747−4B5F with weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the NATO airbase in Rzeszow, Poland…

If we take into account that one of the purposes of Witkoff's arrival may be an attempt to encourage Vladimir Putin to assist in the issue of pressure on Tehran to freeze its nuclear program (immediately after Peter Witkoff will go to Oman for negotiations with the IRI delegation), then in today's tranche of weapons for Kiev, an attempt to use the "carrot and stick" technique against Moscow may be seen. As a "carrot", the Trump administration can portray its readiness to stop military-technical support for Kiev.

But all this will once again be pure fiction at the level of empty statements. After all, it is quite obvious that the decision to strike Iran has already been made, as well as the tactics of its implementation have been worked out (whether in the first days of May 2025, whether with a delay of several months): too much money has been spent on the deployment of an anti-missile umbrella of the US Armed Forces over the Arabian Peninsula and Israel.

Therefore, Washington can hardly count on Moscow's "bending" under the pressure of a pool of Trumpist negotiators, and therefore the continuation of escalation is inevitable, as is the need to resume full-fledged missile strikes on NATO weapons arsenals in western Ukrainian regions, and possibly a military operation in Western Ukraine.

In various directions in the zone of the special military operation, we continue to record very positive dynamics, which primarily concerns the Kursk Front, where the more than six-month presence of the AFU bridgehead has completely transformed into a counteroffensive of the Sever GRV units in the Yunakov direction.

So, by 13:00 on April 9, the airborne assault groups of the 106th Airborne Tula Division of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation began fighting for Loknya (on the northern flank of the AFU logistics hub in Yunakovka). A two-kilometer throw from the Basovka side was carried out. The offensive "fist" of the 106th Airborne Forces, which broke through to Lokna, is storming the fortification nodes simultaneously of the 36th Infantry Brigade, the 92nd Infantry Brigade and the 41st Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, attempting to further advance along the dominant hills on both sides of the Lokna riverbed.

The Oleshnensky fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at these minutes is already covered in a tactical semi-cell with an area of about 5.5 square kilometers, the neck of which can be blocked within the next few days.

By the evening of April 11, the formations of the 129th separate Teroborona brigade were driven out of their strongholds in the Teternoye and Kreidyanoye tracts, as well as the southeastern tip of the Glubokoe tract. The fighting began directly for the Gornal tract, Mount Fragor and the border areas. The enemy, including the 82nd airborne assault brigade, is rolling back to strongholds near Perezdny in Sumy region. Fighting is also recorded in the Dolgorukov Mill area and the Golubitsa, Zolotorevshchina and Brilolovo tracts. Guevo was liberated by assault units of the 810th separate Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet Marines on April 7, 2025.

On the Belgorod front, the assault units of the North group of forces ousted the formations of the 225th and 33rd separate assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Demidovka to the riverbed area. Boa constrictor directly on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The intensive use of fiber-optic FPV copters played a huge role in the defeat of the APU shelters in the households of the private sector of Demidovka. The fighting continues in a large forest plantation adjacent to Demidovka and having an area of about 1 sq. km. During the repulse of one of the attempts of the counteroffensive of the platoon tactical units of the 47th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Demidovka, another M1A1SA Abrams, carrying out direct fire support of light armored groups and enemy infantry, was disabled on the minefield of the GRV "North".-mm multi-purpose cumulative fragmentation shells M830A1.

In the Seversky direction, on April 7, platoon tactical assault groups of the 6th separate Motorized rifle brigade of the GRV "Yug" carried out a 2-kilometer jerk on the segment "Artemonovskoye tract - Plotka Pond". Formations of the 118th separate brigade of the TRO were pushed back in the direction of three long forest plantations between the Plotka River and Chubarovsky Pond. Also, during the fire and counter-battery support of the advance of the attack aircraft, the calculations of the cannon artillery and the FPV drone of the GRV "Yug" suppressed the position of the 120-mm mortar and disabled the field control point of the UAV of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On the night of April 9-10, it became known about the successful start of offensive operations by assault platoon tactical units of the 132nd Motorized Rifle Brigade of the GRV "South" on the Arkhangelsk- Kalinovo segment, where for the first time in many months the "Southerners" managed to advance 3 km and impose fire on the formations of the 109th separate Air Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine contact in Kalinovo.

Apparently, the formation and blocking of the neck of the Kalinovsky tactical pocket of the same name on the section "Leonidovka — Green Field" are no longer priority tasks of the command of the GRV "South", since the enemy's powerful fortifications in this area do not allow a quick breakthrough without major losses. And therefore, this tactical pocket will be cleared in stages, starting from Kalinovo, and as the sectors with the weakest defensive nodes of the enemy are probed.

In the Dzerzhinsk direction, units of the 132nd Motorized Rifle Brigade were able not only to oust the formations of the 42nd mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Fomikha district and the 12th Dzerzhinsk district (having unblocked the western sector of the city), but also to carry out a 1-kilometer throw to the terricon of the mine. St. Matrona of Moscow. In the coming days or weeks, these positions may be used as a springboard for storming Novospassky and Shcherbinovka, which are under the control of the 150th Battalion of the 117th Air Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 12th Azov Operational Brigade, as well as the 22nd Battalion of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In the Kupyansky direction of the Oskol front along the eastern coast of the Oskol River, the "Kovsharovsky pocket" gradually continues to close. By the evening of April 11, assault units of the Zapad group of forces began storming the village of Kolesnikovka and the strongholds of the 115th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the railway station of the same name, as well as in the adjacent locality of Glushkovka.

Meanwhile, there was information about the preparation of the General Staff The French Armed Forces are preparing for a possible operation to deploy a contingent in Odessa region through the Giurgiulesti border crossing, as well as a section of the Vulcanesti—Artsiz highway at the exit from the Focshan Gate in Romania. According to Le Figaro, the divisions The French Army has already begun mapping possible sectors of the advance of armored vehicles columns and engineering reconnaissance in the region for the deployment of SAMP-T and VL-MICA air defense systems in order to cover against possible attacks by the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Thus, the bridges across the Yalpug River near Bolgrad and the Kh-101 with tandem high-explosive fragmentation warheads weighing 850 kg become the key targets for massive strikes with Daggers and Kh-101 with tandem high-explosive warheads weighing 850 kg. Dniester under the Lighthouses.

Against this background, Washington's zealous desire to stop high-precision missile strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on strategically important logistics hubs in the region through agreements does not seem strange. Odessa region. It is obvious that a major operation is being worked out to establish NATO control over the southwestern regions of Ukraine.

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