23 Apr: Breakthrough! Russians Exploit a Ukrainian Mistake & Penetrate The Line! - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 790: Apr 23

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Avdiivka direction.

Here, Russians exploited a Ukrainian mistake and executed a daring and risky maneuver in an attempt to accomplish multiple strategic goals at once, endangering the entire Ukrainian defensive operation.

On the northern flank of Avdiivka, the primary objective of the Russians is advancing westward to take the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. This city is the main Ukrainian headquarters in the area, from which they coordinate, reinforce, and supply their forces on the frontline. As such, Ukrainians have established multiple lines of defense to halt any Russian attempts to take this city.

At first, the Russians focused their breakthrough attempts on the first Ukrainian defensive line behind the Durna River. After multiple successful Ukrainian defensive operations, Ukrainians became overly focused on this line, allocating a large amount of manpower and equipment from other directions to continue to hold it. If we look at the topographic map, we can also see that Ukrainians have established their defenses on the high ground behind the river. Any Russian attempt to cross the river, therefore, comes under fire from the Ukrainians up the hill.

Russian commanders realized that their chances of breaking through the Ukrainian defense in this direction were close to zero. That is why Russians decided to conduct an opportunistic attack designed to outflank the Ukrainian defenses to the east along the railways. This way, Russians could attack the Ukrainian defense line not only from the flanks but also from the same elevation.

In preparation for this move, Russian aviation conducted air strikes with FAB glide bombs on Ukrainian positions along the planned Russian axis of advance and the Ukrainian-held town of Ocheretyne. Ukrainian sources also report that Russians started intensely shelling Ukrainian positions in this direction with artillery, severely limiting Ukrainian military movement and rescue operations of civilians stuck under the rubble of targeted buildings.

After the artillery preparations, Russians started conducting multiple probing attacks on the railway line and the surrounding tree lines. The Ukrainian 45th mechanized brigade shared geolocated footage of the destruction of a Russian assault group consisting of one armored personnel carrier with infantry. However, as it turns out, Ukrainians had allocated too much forces to the Durna defense line. This, combined with the intense aerial and artillery bombardment, had created a gap in the Ukrainian defenses. Russians quickly realized this and intensified their attacks, pushing on to the Zarya settlement and even establishing a small foothold in the town of Ocheretyne in only three days.

Notably, these Russian attacks consisted of pure infantry, as they were forced to stick to the forest belt along the railway line. The railway line itself is not yet suitable for Russians to move armored vehicles over, as it lacks cover and is under complete Ukrainian fire control from both sides. After the surprise wore off, Ukrainians quickly relocated units from the 30th and 59th mechanized brigades to reinforce the town and conduct immediate counterattacks.

Geolocated footage confirms the presence of Russian forces on the southern outskirts of the Town as Ukrainians engage Russian forces in the exterior trenches with artillery and drones. During the attack, a Ukrainian observation drone spotted a massive concentration of approximately 50 Russian soldiers exiting the substation on the edge of the town. Russians were using this building as a staging ground, from where the infantry would be directed to further attack certain buildings. After this observation, Ukrainians immediately conducted artillery and drone strikes on the building itself while Russians frantically attempted to flee the kill zone. Russian sources then claimed that these survivors were relocated to positions along the tree belt next to the railway to be more spread out against further Ukrainian attacks. These Russian sources also stated that while the attacks on the town itself had halted, Russian forces were preparing and ready to launch another large attack on Ocheretyne.

Geolocated footage also confirms that Russians did not completely retreat from the settlement. Ukrainian geolocated footage shows Ukrainian drone operators engaging Russian infantry in the outskirts with drone-dropped grenades. Further released footage shows that Russians are using a Ukrainian trench as a path...

[captain queeg]

1. As Guderian would say "they are learning"

Glad the US aid is imminent. None too soon.

[niyad]

2. Slava Ukraini. Thank you for the update.