Thread by @Inkvisiit

We have decided to release a series of full satellite images used to construct this thread, since at this point they are nearly five months old (13MAR23) and could be useful for geolocation as well as providing some transparency on the methods used in the original analysis. 1/

https://twitter.com/Inkvisiit/status/1655584386601951238

The series in question is particularly relevant at this moment, since this area has seen some of the fiercest fighting over the past few months as Ukrainian forces have been trying to bypass the Russian held village of Robotyne from the east. 2/

However, as you can see from the images themselves, this area had very few points of interest and was at the time when the images were taken very lightly fortified. This was likely due to the area being a seam or "gap" between two Russian frontline regimental groups. 3/

At the time of writing the original fortifications thread, this treeline (#1 & #2) showed some signs of entrenchment and activity which were not visible in these high res images that we took. Only few isolated outposts and small squad positions could be found. 4/

It is likely that Russian further strengthened this position later in the spring and Ukrainians had hard time reaching this area just behind the Russian forwardmost outposts. 5/

#3 was a fortified ridgeline, which was key objective for early Ukrainian assaults and could dominate the surrounding terrain. 13th MAR these fortifications were still being constructed but later, proved to be very difficult for Ukrainian forces to reach and secure. 6/

#4 is the forest directly south of #3 ridge. It slopes down to a small valley. I was mainly interested in this area to see if there were anything hiding in those woods. Sings of vehicular activity and few shelter positions can be observed but nothing particularly interesting. 7/

#5 slightly southeast from #3 and #4. These odd-looking positions were quite visible from sentinel images as well but hi res images could at least confirm that these were fighting positions with shelter bunkers being constructed. 8/

These positions are situated on a forward slope of a hill east of Robotyne and guard the small valley between them. This is one of the furthest areas that Ukrainian forces have reached during this summer’s counter offensive. 9/

Unfortunately the recent footage also showed the perils of attempting to bypass Robotyne without neutralizing or suppressing its defenders, with enfilading (tank or atgm?) fire striking the advancing Ukr troops from the direction of Robotyne. 10/

https://twitter.com/WarVehicle/status/1685933403336499200

#6 is a slightly complex polygon since we do not have infinite budget for sat images, but I wished to check the wood lines south of 5 for any positions or activity not visible in sentinel. Not much to see here aside from one vehicle and few strange objects (can you find them?)11/

#6 area has since seen activity in sentinel images pointing to Russians likely digging in these wood lines to block the Ukrainian advance just north of their prepared first continuous fortified line east of Novoprokopivka. 12/

Thats probably enough pictures for today. But as you can see, at least earlier in the spring this area was pretty lightly fortified and showed quite little activity and equipment. Which does reinforce the idea that it might have been a gap between two Ru regimental groups. 13/

Some prominent Russian telegram milblog channels did come to a conclusion quite early in the June that Ukrainians were attempting to exploit this gap, but evidently this has not been easy for Ukr and additional Ru forces were rushed in to plug the gap quite early. 14/

Ukrainian forces are essentially clawing their way through a deadly funnel where the dominant high ground on both sides is still being held by enemy forces. We shall see if they can force their way through or if they still have any tricks up their sleeve. 15/15