Day 889: 31 July
On 31 July, there were many updates from the Pokrovsk direction. Russian forces have kept up a consistent but slow advance, while Ukrainians are managing a fight in withdrawal against overwhelming odds. The goal of the Russian forces here is twofold.
First, Russians are trying to cut off the Ukrainian Kostiantynivka-Pokrovsk highway, splitting Ukrainian forces. Second, they want to take control over the city of Pokrovsk itself. To accomplish this, Russians need to fully secure their salient by pushing Ukrainians to the Vovcha River. This would remove the threat of Ukrainian counterattacks and secure their logistic routes against Ukrainian drone activity.
Russians have moved a considerable number of brigades to the region to give themselves an overwhelming manpower advantage. This has allowed Russians to keep up a creeping advance as Ukrainian doctrine continues to value saving soldiers’ lives over holding on to lost positions.
As Ukrainians cannot contend with the Russian manpower advantage straight on, Ukrainian forces in the region have adopted several tactics to slow the Russian process significantly.
Firstly Ukrainians conduct regular counterattacks and raids on Russian positions with armored vehicles and deploy assault groups where Russians are vulnerable. Geolocated footage shows one Ukrainian Bradley driving up and firing on a Russian position to undermine the Russian advance toward the river.
Another video shows Bradley infantry fighting vehicles firing into a Russian tree line to undermine Russian attacks on one of the settlements. The footage also shows how, after the bread list laid into the Russian trenches with automatic cannons, two Ukrainian assault groups deployed to clear the trenches further and cut off the Russian advancement.
Secondly, Ukrainians mine the approaches to their positions with anti-infantry and anti-tank mines, as shown by this Russian mechanized attack being cut short when the lead vehicle drives over a mine and detonates.
Thirdly Ukrainians target Russian forces with FPV drones and heavy-duty vampire drones not only along the contact line but over the entire Russian salient. Ukrainian vampire hexacopter drones destroy buildings Russians are sheltering in with heavy explosives or by carpet bombing them with individual mortar rounds. Ukrainian FPV drones fly around and target Russian infantry and shelters, as well as supply trucks and vehicles deeper into the salient, heavily disrupting the Russian ability to launch attacks and sustain prolonged assault operations.
The problem of Ukrainian fpvs is so extensive for Russian forces that one Ukrainian drone captured a Russian soldier choosing to end his own life as soon as he heard a Ukrainian drone fly over his head without even attempting to run or otherwise putting up a fight.
The main defensive line that Ukrainians were making a fighting withdrawal to stood firmly behind the Vovcha River with fortified positions on the hills overlooking any Russian crossing point.
The only weak spot in this Ukrainian defense line was the small settlement of progress.
One reason for this was the railway line running by the settlement. Defending this railway line is more difficult for Ukrainians as Russians do not have to make a risky crossing through any open fields and can move through cover toward the Ukrainian positions. Secondly, if we look at the topographic map, we can see that Russians would also be moving over the hill ridges, denying Ukrainians the high-ground advantage.
Russians understood this and launched a massive two-prong assault on pris along the railway line and from Oleksandrivka from the north. While initially being able to hold the Russians at Bay, the Ukrainian defense eventually relented under intense pressure.
Through this, the Russians managed to encircle a number of soldiers of the 31st Mechanized Brigade in a strong fortification meant to provide fire control over the railway line. While senior commanders were slow to act, the junior officers of the battalions took quick action, knowing that every second counted.
With the help of coordinated actions by artillery drones and adjacent forces, the encircled soldiers were able to break out of the encirclement before the Russians had a chance to attack.
The Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade sent to Counterattack Russians in progress had to be redirected to help the encircled soldiers break out abandoning progress in the process as Russian forces flooded the settlement with vast amounts of infantry.
Simultaneously, after two and a half weeks of delaying and damaging Russian forces in Novoselivka, Ukrainians withdrew and surrendered control over the settlement to the Russians.
This was the best move for Ukrainians, as defending the river line would be much more cost-effective, especially with the looming battle approaching.
Overall the Ukrainian focus on saving lives rather than holding ground has led to the temporary reality of a fighting withdrawal. Superior Ukrainian training and effective countermeasures have proven highly effective, but the overwhelming Russian numbers make it difficult to hold the line continuously.
To compensate Ukrainians are actively targeting Russian Manpower equipment and Logistics all over the exposed salient with a vast number of FPVs and vampire drones wreaking havoc on the Russian offensive efforts.
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:
- Frontline report: Russian military bridgehead collapses in Vovchansk
