Day 477.
Today there are a lot of updates from the east.
Here, Ukrainians managed to breach several Russian defensive positions and assault multiple settlements that are protecting the northern Bakhmut’s flank.
The main axis of the attack became Berkhivka.
After the regular Russian forces exhausted their offensive capabilities and failed to recapture the tactical heights around Bakhmut, as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces conducted a tactical regrouping to more reliable positions.
The Head of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin, who spent considerable resources gaining the ground that the regular forces were losing, immediately stated that the fact that Ukrainians captured all tactical heights meant that the fall of Berkhivka and the whole northern flank was just a matter of time.
Over the last week, after achieving their tactical objectives in the southern part of the region, Ukrainian forces could finally prioritize the northern flank.
Judging by the combat footage, Ukrainians opened multiple vectors of attacks. These include:
- The first attack was launched south of the railways. As Prigozhin himself mentioned in an interview, the combination of tree lines and the embankment makes it very easy for a mechanized group to quickly close the distance and assault the trenches.
- The second line of attack became the pathway between the reservoir and the railways. Russian sources reported that Ukrainians lost multiple tanks and armored fighting vehicles and that their attempt to take Berkhivka completely failed. However, Berkhivka was not the main goal of this attack. The main purpose of this attack was to clear all the tree lines between the reservoir and railways in order to set conditions for what was coming next.
- And the next Ukrainian attacks were directed toward Yahidne. So, by improving their tactical position in the vicinity of Berkhivka, Ukrainians effectively blocked Russians from conducting a flank attack and undermining their offensive efforts.
The Head of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin, was asked to evaluate the situation, and he said that his reconnaissance crews clearly recorded that Ukrainians had indeed populated the tree lines and entrenched themselves even more.
In the meantime, the intensity of engagements around Yahidne has been increasing significantly. Russian sources indirectly confirmed that Ukrainians are attacking Berkhivka and Yahidne, while the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister stated that Ukrainian forces managed to advance by up to 1.5 km, precisely the distance between Yahidne and the previous Russian defense line in the tree lines.
Ukrainian 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade released a highly graphic video of how those Russian soldiers trying to escape the heat only got under devastating mortar fire that instantly killed the entire squad.
Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade released a video showing how they were destroying Russian tanks in the vicinity of Yahidne.
Ukrainian 77th Airmobile Brigade showed how they were destroying enemy ammunition depots and equipment also in Yahidne.
The sentiment of the Ukrainian fighters that are reporting news from Bakhmut is quite positive, and they also signaled that many moves are not being reported yet, however, if everything goes according to the plan, Ukrainians will be able to slice off the Russian salient north of Bakhmut and start moving further.
In fact, there is already a lot of footage that shows how Ukrainian artillery has started undermining the next Russian defense line, namely in Blahodatne and Pidhorodne.
Today Ukrainians also released footage of the aftermath of a successful Ukrainian attack in the vicinity of Sakko i Vantsetti. Such actions are not only stretching Russian forces along the whole front line but also indicate that:
- The scale of the potential offensive is much bigger
- Just like last time, Ukrainians may very well end up conducting several back-to-back counteroffensive operations on various parts of the front line
In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what’s happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
