Advancing north from.
The ruins of Vuhledar.
The powerful ‘orcs’.
20th Motor Rifle Division.
—with perhaps 10,000 troops—
Is hammering at.
The 2,000-person ‘elves’.
79th Air Assault Brigade.
Counting on the division’s.
Superior numbers.
To grind down.
The exhausted paratroopers.
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
If Illinka and.
Surrounding settlements fall.
‘Orcs’ troops could.
Drive north.
—and surround the ‘elves’.
Garrison in Karakhove.
A key position.
For the ‘elves’ defense.
Of southern Donetsk Oblast.
“The situation is close.
To critical,” reported.
An ‘elf’ drone operator.
The 79th Air Assault Brigade.
“Is under a massive enemy push”.
That began around.
Two weeks ago.
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
The paratroopers and.
Their supporting drone units.
Have knocked out potentially.
Dozens of ‘orcs’ vehicles.
—first, factory-fresh BMP-3s.
And then, as the modern BMP-3s.
Began to run out.
Older BMP-2s and MT-LBs.
The vehicular massacre.
On the road toward Illinka.
Has helped drive up.
‘Orcs’ losses to record levels.
An analyst tallied.
A staggering 206 destroyed.
Damaged and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
On Saturday.
He counted just.
49 ‘elves’ losses.
On the same day.
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
But ‘Mordor’ has discovered.
A winning strategy.
At a winning time.
And is clearly.
Willing to.
Trade vehicles.
And troops.
For territory.
The strategy is.
Simple but effective.
Simple but effective.
An ‘elf’ journalist explained.
“The ‘orcs’ continue to successfully.
Use the ‘bag’ tactics.
Bypassing our positions.
On three sides.”
“And leaving a narrow ‘throat’.
For retreat.
As a result.
Even in combat-ready units.”
“Encirclement panic.
Often begins.
Which leads to.
The withdrawal of troops.”
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
It doesn’t help.
The ‘elves’ war effort that.
Its forces are stretched.
Thin in the east.
While trying to maintain.
control of their.
270-mile salient in.
Western ‘Mordor’’s Kursk Oblast.
That salient.
Which Kyiv may hope to use.
As a bargaining chip.
In any future peace negotiations.
Is under increasing pressure.
Not only from ‘orcs’ troops.
But also thousands of.
North Korean reinforcements.
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
The dozen or so.
‘Elves’ battalions.
In Kursk.
Which include.
Some of ‘elves’ best.
Troops and vehicles.
Would be more useful.
In Donetsk.
The drone operator argued.
“While we lose so much ground.
In the Donetsk area.
I am asking myself:
“What I am doing in the Kursk area?
Since the first day of operation.
I was strongly against it.
My opinion hasn’t changed.”
The ‘orcs’ goal:
To drive the ‘elves’ brigade.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
From the village of Illinka.
20 miles west of Donetsk.
In the oblast of.
The same name.
The defense ministry in Kyiv.
Is scrambling to form.
New brigades in order to.
Reinforce the fraying front line.
But the best of these brigades.
Is still in training.
And there aren’t enough.
Modern vehicles to equip them all.
*Because I read “A Powerful Russian Division Is Grinding Away At Ukrainian Paratroopers In Illinka—And Losing Staggering Numbers Of Vehicles” by David Axe on 3 Nov 2024 on the Forbes, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022 on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
Powerful Russian Division Grinds Down Ukrainian Paratroops In Illinka
