28 Feb: Russians Boast With Their Ammo Delivery. Regret Immediately - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 370: February 28

Last time I told you that the Russians breached the last Ukrainian defenses on their way to the main supply road to Bakhmut. I also told you that the Ukrainians blew up the dam in the northern part of the region, which caused a local flood. The freshest reports indicate that the water level stayed high for two days and successfully prevented the Russians from immediately assaulting the next positions on the line, giving the Ukrainians the necessary time to regroup.

Today one Ukrainian commander published a video where he described the latest developments around Bakhmut. He said that the most difficult part of the front line remains the northern flank. He said that Wagner forces continued exploiting their prisoner formations and continuously sent them to assault Ukrainian positions along the whole front line. The situation was described as extremely difficult, and the main factor of difficulty was that Wagners did not care about losses in prisoner units and just aimed to overwhelm the Ukrainians with numbers. He admitted that this tactic is slowly bringing results because some units manage to slip through defenses or unveil a blind spot, which the professional Wagners in the back immediately exploit. This is how the Russians managed to advance closer to Bohdanivka. Nonetheless, Russian sources report that the advancement in this direction is complicated because the Ukrainians are engaging mortars heavily. This is exactly what the Ukrainians lacked in Soledar, so it is good to see that they rectified their mistakes and ensured adequate supplies of mortars this time.

The Russians experience the biggest hardships with the westward expansion. Many sources reported a series of Ukrainian counterattacks in this region. Many sources also suggested that the Russians are trying hard to expand their control of the region around Orikhovo-Vasylivka. It looks like the efforts of both sides resulted in a series of head-on collisions, which led to no changes to the front line.

The Ukrainians have also conducted a counterattack in the southern part of Bakhmut – this time not in the forest near Chasiv Yar, but the one to the south of Bakhmut. Russian sources confirmed that there was an attempt to move toward Klischiivka. The main goal here was to push the Russians from the small residential area and keep the Russians purely in the forest, and it looks like this counterattack was successful.

As you might have noticed, all heavy clashes are taking place outside the city. This directly implies that the Ukrainians have almost all forces outside the cauldron. In fact, the estimates of Russian military-affiliated analysts have been greatly corrected, and now the Russians say that there are around 3 000 Ukrainians left inside the town, and the best they can hope for is to capture 500 troops. This is a 40-fold step down from the previous estimate of 20 000. The decreased concentration of troops is also indicated by sudden Russian advances on the eastern bank of Bakhmut. Last time I told you that the Russians captured 1 of the 2 high-rise building blocks, and today they captured the second. Their control around the meat-processing plant has also increased, so hopefully, in the next few days, the Ukrainians will leave this side of the river completely.

A few days ago, the Head of the Wagner forces, Prigozhin, announced that their feud with the Ministry of Defense was over because they had finally fulfilled the request and sent the Wagners all the necessary ammunition. The Ukrainians did not miss a chance and launched an extensive series of fire missions on the main supply hubs of Wagner forces. Today, explosions were reported in Kadiivka and Stahanov. In Kadiivka, the locals reported huge explosions and secondary detonations, clearly indicating that the Ukrainians had destroyed an ammunition depot. And in Stahanov, the locals reported a series of strikes, which resulted in the destruction of at least one ammunition depot and also a railway car factory shop, which the Wagners reported turned into a warehouse with equipment.