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ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE: Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi. The Man Just Makes Things Git [1]

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Date: 2025-02-17

Our own American history recounts a moment when an embattled war President, our 16th, Abraham Lincoln, quietly listened to a group of Washington DC poohbahs who had come to complain to him about how the civil war was in their view going sideways for the Federals. They ended by recommending that Lincoln fire his newly appointed overall commander of Union forces, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, a reputed “drunk”. In his classic homespun western frontier-speak, Lincoln famously responded ... “I can’t spare the man. All I know is that he makes things git", meaning that Grant was a decisive and effective leader who got things done on the battlefield, without hesitation or unnecessary fuss.

Ulysses S. Grant was 42 years old when President Lincoln appointed him commander of Union forces in March 1864. Roughly a year or so later, the tenacious tanner’s son from rural Ohio and the man some called “Useless Grant” during his days as an unsuccessful farmer, jack of all trades in St. Louis, had forced the redoubtable General Robert E. Lee into surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia in ol’ Wilmer McLean’s parlor at Appomattox Court House in rural South Central Virginia. The war was over. The date was April 9th, 1865.

The past week or so has brought news of Ukrainian forces having seemingly stabilized their front in Donetsk, especially near Pokrovsk where they’re now taking advantage of their short defensible interior lines and fast mobile mechanized forces to take the fight to the Russians by counterattacking and capturing critical locations such as Pischane, Kotlyne and blocking off Udachne to prevent the Russians from further expanding their western pincer around Pokrovsk. I hereby predict that in the coming days the Ukrainians will cut off that small Russian salient at Kotlyne altogether and refill their prisoner exchange fund.

Frontline report: Ukrainian precision counterstrikes near Pokrovsk exhausted Russian forces to breaking point Despite facing stark disadvantages in manpower and resources, Ukrainian forces systematically dismantled Russian assault groups at Kotlyne in Donetsk Oblast through coordinated armor, drones, and infantry tactics. euromaidanpress.com/...

It is not just Pokrovsk. Recent news comes of the Ukrainians having evacuated the now pulverized high rise district in Toretsk and creating hardened defensive/offensive strong points on the Northern edges of the city. From their new reinforced positions, the Ukrainians have basically created a “Roach Motel” in the center of Toretsk ... the Russians can come in but they cannot advance further on their ultimate goal of getting to the “other Pokrovsk” … Kostyantynivka.

The Ukrainians also predicted after evacuating Velyka Novosilka in the Mokri Yaly valley that the Russians will be trapped and not be able to break out towards the North .. creating another “Roach Motel”. Chasiv Yar is also proving to be the same situation for the Russians … you can come in but you can’t get much further.

The aforementioned cities along with others constitute the front of what has become known in some quarters as the Ukrainian “Fortress Belt” in Donetsk Oblast:

Ukraine's "fortress belt" is a 50-kilometer-long line (approximately 31 miles) along the cities Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka that forms the line of Kyiv's defenses in Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. As of April 2024, the cities along the "fortress belt" sat between 12 and 30 kilometers (7.5 to 18.6 miles) from the front line. www.newsweek.com/...

So why are the Ukrainians suddenly getting all jiggy with it? General Syrskyi, the CIC of Ukrainian forces, has in recent months indicated on several occasions that Ukraine cannot expect to win this war by fighting strictly on the defensive. Ukraine must deliberatively and selectively take the fight to the Russian enemy. The man he selected and recommended to President Zelenskyi was 42 year old Major General Mykhailo Vasyliovych Drapatyi, arguably one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the Ukrainian armed forces at present. Since 2014 when Putin’s machinations in the Donbas began, Drapatyi has been in the thick of it. And some of his swashbuckling exploits in battle have become legendary. Wherever things are hottest, you will find Drapatyi. When the commander in charge of the Kharkiv front completely failed(he’s under arrest for dereliction of duty) during the Russian second attempt last year to invade Kharkiv Oblast resulting in the carnage as Vovchansk, etc., Drapatyi was rushed in to take control of the situation. Not only did he manage to stabilize the situation, he went on the offensive which drove the Russians out of Vovchansk and now practically out of Kharkiv oblast.

An so it is that when things looked dire at Pokrovsk, in addition to his regular duties as Commander of all Ground Forces(Syrskyi’s old job), President Zelenskyi on January 26 2025 appointed Drapatyi to the most high profile and most critical front line command in the Ukrainian forces … the Khortysia Strategic Operations Group whose primary responsibility is the Eastern Front. And in less than a month, Drapatyi has changed the situation on the Eastern front for Ukraine. He’s that good. And in Lincoln’s words …. wherever he is, he makes things git! Here’s a link to a partial history on Major General Drapatyi:

Stopping Russia in Donetsk: Who Is Mykhailo Drapatyi, new chief of Ukraine's eastern group? global.espreso.tv/...

ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE. They always find a way.

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