As losses increase, Russian commanders are resorting to harsh measures. They have even fired on their own troops in order to prevent surrenders.
The most interesting developments today are coming from the Kurakhove area. The battle raged on the southern flank, and with the terrain working in the Ukrainians’ favor, the Russian losses and surrendering troops began to mount. This led Russian commanders into draconian actions, including firing at their own soldiers to prevent them from surrendering.
The main Russian objective here is to advance on the southern flank of Kurakhove, and open up a large front for Ukrainian defenders. The Russian supply lines would be stretched over 20 km away from their nearest supply hubs if they were to advance through these fields. They would also have to travel on unpaved roads, which are impassable during the rainy seasons. The Russians should first take the belt between Kurakhove & Vuhledar which has a paved road that runs through it. This will allow them to store equipment and ammunition on the way.
The battle that is currently most intense is around Kostyantynivka. Russians control the town and Ukrainians control the fields and settlements surrounding it. On the topographic map we can see the settlements are located in the lowlands and the fields that Russians intend to take are located on the high ground. Open-source analyses show that Ukrainians have established strong defensive positions on the top of the hills, and behind the rivers and stream.
The fact that the trees on the hills run perpendicularly to the Russian advance line gives Ukrainians a strong defensive advantage. As the rivers and swampy land to the north and the south of this position prevent flanking maneuvers, Russian assault groups have to attack Ukrainian positions directly.
To reach the Ukrainian fortified positions along the tree line, Russians must cross the 0-532 at 400 meters. This is the approximate range of the assault rifles. The entire field in front the Ukrainian trenches can be reached by their small arms fire. If the Russians are to have any chance of surviving, they will need to deploy mechanized assaults units to cross these fields.
The situation for Russian forces does not improve, as a small branch of the river creates a wide swampy terrain along their avenue of attack. This forces Russian mechanized unit to use a small bridge to cross. This creates a chokepoint where Ukrainians can focus their artillery and drone strikes. The road that Russians have to take forces them to attack Ukrainian positions from the downhill slope.
Recent Russian mechanized attacks have been launched in waves, with the aim of landing their infantry at the front tree line to capture the Ukrainian trenches. Russians launched company-sized mechanized attacks with up to 150 infantry and 10 armored vehicles at a given time. Reconnaissance drones allowed Ukrainians to detect these Russian tank convoys as they approached.
Geolocated footage shows that by the time the Russians had crossed the bridge, Ukrainian artillery opened fire. The footage shows how Ukrainians used heavy drones to place anti-tanks mines remotely, which led to a large number of Russian armored vehicle losses.
After losing dozens armored vehicles, and countless soldiers, to Ukrainian landmines, the Russians decided to equip two of their T-80 tanks leading columns with mine rollers in order to clear the way for the Russian column. The Russians were not helped much by this, as the tanks were disabled by anti-tank landmines despite having been equipped to clear them and finished off by Ukrainian helicopters.
After dealing with the immediate threat of Russian tanks, Ukrainians used Mavic Drones to drop grenades onto any remaining Russian infantry. They often tried to find shelter among the trees and sparse building north of the River. Knowing they would be killed, a group decided to leave the trees and surrender to a Ukrainian Drone. The Ukrainian drone accepted their surrender and led the Russian soldiers to Ukrainian lines where they were taken as prisoners of War.
When a Russian drone spotted the surrendering Russian soldiers he decided to direct artillery to precisely target the road they were on. As the Russian artillery fired, the Russian soldiers and Ukrainian drone leading them cut across a field in order to avoid the artillery. The next Russian shell struck, killing most of the group. The footage shows only one Russian soldier escaping the punishment of his commander.
The heavily fortified Ukrainian trees behind the highway were not reached by any of the Russian assaults. The terrain was in the Ukrainians’ favor, forcing Russians into a chokepoint where they were forced to send their armored assault groups directly into Ukrainian artillery, minefields and drones. All Russian assaults collapsed as soon as they crossed over the bridge and Russian infantry was picked off by Ukrainian drones. The only way to weaken Ukrainian positions on the fields was for the Russians by taking control of the belts of settlements and destroying their supply lines in the lowlands.
But with the recent Russian bombing of a bridge at Elyzavetivka it seems that further Russian advances are unlikely.
In our regular frontline reports, we team up with the military blog Reporting from Ukraine in order to keep you updated on what’s happening on the battlefield during the Russo Ukrainian war.
Despite mounting losses, the Russian command increased pressure on Ivanivske village. They probably think that if they take it, the Ukrainian south flank will collapse.
Read More @ euromaidanpress.com