Day 564: Sep 10
Today, there are a lot of new developments in the Tokmak direction.
As Ukrainians secured the road to Robotyne, they started to ramp up their offensive operation in all directions. The first direction of advancement became Kopani. The goal of Ukrainians here is to demolish the remnants of the first defense line to gain more freedom of movement inside the bridgehead. As you can see, if Ukrainians broke the Robotyne-Verbove section of the first line of defense long ago, then the Robotyne-Kopani section remained virtually intact, constricting the movement of the Ukrainian assault units.
If yesterday, Ukrainians were confirmed to capture up to 3 Russian trench networks west of Robotyne by attacking them from the village itself, then today, according to Russian sources, Ukrainians opened additional lines of attack from the north and successfully gained more ground.
Ukrainian sources published combat footage showing how several Leopards 2A6 were undermining the Russian defense in the tree lines before the infantry assault by demolishing it with high-explosive shells. The moment Ukrainians saw the explosion of the first Russian artillery shell, they retreated, never giving the Russians time to correct their fire and destroy Leopards.
However, this was already enough, and after a series of assaults, Russians were pushed out of multiple positions. Shortly after that, Ukrainian fighters released a video of how they were evacuating a stuck Russian tank, which suggests that those fields that were previously in the grey zone are now under total Ukrainian control.
But this was just the beginning. Today, Ukrainians also conducted a tank raid on Novoprokopivka. Recently released combat footage gave a lot of insights into what was actually happening on the ground.
It looks like the tanks entered the area right after artillery preparation, which successfully blew up small Russian ammunition depots in the shelters.
After the tanks cut the distance and got close to the tree line, one of them tried to go as much through the line as possible and also along the tree line from the Ukrainian side. This is a very prudent move because it causes detonations of anti-personnel mines and creates safe trails for the infantry that is going to enter this region after the tanks. The hardest part is to get there safely, and Ukrainian fighters will have a lot of cleared ground from the safest side. Once the infantry is there, they will be able to demine the whole tree line gradually.
The tanks also looked for intact shelters or any fortifications that could present a threat, especially to the infantry, and made sure that everything was demolished.
Soon, the tree line was cleared. However, Ukrainians did not stop here and moved further. As they got closer to the new positions, the tanks became in direct view of one of the Russian ATGM positions. Unfortunately for the Russians, the missile missed the target. A Ukrainian drone operator immediately identified the area from where the missile was launched and gave the coordinates to both the artillery and tank crews.
The ATGM position was quickly suppressed, if not completely demolished, and Ukrainians decided to continue their movement even deeper. Shortly, they got right in front of the village of Novoprokopivka and opened fire on the Russians inside the village. The standing tanks became a perfect target, and the Russians took another try to destroy them. Fortunately, the Ukrainian drone operator was extremely vigilant, noticed the Russian kamikaze drone, and immediately told the crew. The drone missed the target as well. After all objectives were achieved, the tank crews returned to the base.
After the tank raid was completed, Ukrainian infantry conducted a clearing operation and established total control over new positions.
One fighter showed that his unit collected a whole trunk of equipment in the trenches. Another fighter filmed a video on the contact line between Robotyne and Novoprokovka. Because of the necessity to cross an open space, the reconnaissance unit had to always be running. The fighter said that the area is being surveilled, and some sections of the trail are not only densely mined but also under sniper control. The fact that the fighter published the video means that he safely returned and the operation was likely successful.
The analysts claimed that as the bridgehead continues to widen and Russians continue to lose one hill after another, Ukrainians will be able to use their tanks even more extensively because the area will be more secure. And as seen from the footage, tank raids simplify the infantry’s job much more than mere artillery strikes.
In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Read also:
- Defense Ministry: Ukraine enters Opytne near Donetsk, “has successes” near Bakhmut, liberates 1.5 km² in south
- ISW: Ukraine continues advance near Zaporizhzhia’s Robotyne and Donetsk’s Bakhmut
- General Staff: Ukrainian Army keeps pushing forward near Robotyne
