Haven't seen Ukrainian social media and press be as gloomy as they are now. Not at any point since Feb '22.
It's not even fun like this... come on cheer up Hohols!
Russian advances are happening at a speed which seems high even by August and September standards. 136 square kilometers in two days. A dash from the old Vuhledar line to Shaktarske (7 kms) in one day. With this, Russia broke through the second line of defense, which Ukraine was hoping would carry them over through the winter.
Instead of continuing to go for Pokrovsk, the army stopped, and turned south and southwest. I think this is not what the Hohols were expecting, because rather unusually we took the sizeable city of Selydove without a fight. No lunar landscape - but rather a completely intact city.
Now the entire Ukrainian southern front in Zaporozhye and Kherson is threatened, because Russian troops have managed to break through into their rear through the place where the eastern and southern fronts hinge on each other. The options available to Ukraine are:
1) Pull back from its massive defensive line in the South (the one they launched their counter offensive from), and head several dozens kilometers north to a new and safer line.
2) Stay in place, and pray for a miracle that somebody will be able to stop the Russians that are breaking into their rear.
This is the result of losing Vuhledar, after two years of the fiercest resistance. The elite Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade held it during all that time, without being rotated out or meaningfully replenished. A bit more than a year ago, the town became famous around the world after the 79th mauled two powerful Russian assaults, leaving multiple columns of destroyed equipment. In the end, we were not able to take it in a frontal assault, but the city only fell after it became almost completely encircled.
Now if we are able to move a few kilometers more forward to Kurakhovo, we'll be on the N-15 highway. The N15 highway goes through the rear of the ENTIRE UKRAINIAN SOUTHERN FRONT.
Pokrovsk turned out to be a distraction to an even bigger disaster unfolding for the Ukrainians.