Today, the biggest developments come from the Kursk direction in Russia.
Amid intensifying Russian counterattacks, Russian forces escalated their efforts by launching large pincer maneuvers designed to encircle and eliminate cut-off Ukrainian positions.
In a swift and calculated response, Ukrainian forces launched devastating drone strikes on advancing Russian units and deployed elite marines for cover, setting the stage for the decisive battle.
Russian spearhead operations and Ukrainian withdrawals
As you know, as part of their counteroffensive, Russians launched a spearhead attack along the hardened road between Korenevo and Sudzha, whereupon Ukrainians pulled back from several exterior positions to avoid complete encirclement. Russians continued to launch armored assaults over the highway however, trying to consolidate their gains and maintain control over the crucial supply line. As there were no other roads leading into the Ukrainian-controlled town of Olgovka, this put Ukrainian soldiers here in an increasingly precarious position and largely cut off from supplies and reinforcements. Ukrainian soldiers here were also under threat of Russian assaults from all sides, as Russians controlled all hardened roads leading into the settlement.
As Ukrainians continue to prioritize the survival of their men, keeping a mentality of living to fight another day, Ukrainian commanders ordered the immediate withdrawal of their forces from Olgovka.
Similarly, the Russian spearhead had reached an important intersection between Novoivanovka and Lyubimovka.
This also caused Ukrainian soldiers defending Lyubimovka to lose access to their main supply road. The Russians knew this and decided to press their advantage, as Russian soldiers in Lyubimovka started actively assaulting Ukrainian positions to increase the pressure. As you know, Ukrainians launched frontal attacks on Novoivanovka and had reclaimed most of the settlement from the Russians.
Still, Russians continued to launch armored assaults over the highway to Sudzha, preventing Ukrainians from re-establishing control over the intersection, and ground lines of communication with the soldiers stuck in Lyubimovka.
Challenges from Russian assaults and Ukrainian drone tactics
Russians also moved in several armored vehicles from the west, trying to deploy groups of infantry to pin down Ukrainians in the settlement, preventing them from breaking out. Due to bad weather and Russian electronic warfare equipment making it difficult for Ukrainian drone operators to successfully hit their targets, Ukrainians deployed a new technology. Ukrainians had programmed several FPV kamikaze drones with target recognition software, meaning the drone operator only had to fly and lock on to a target, and the drone autonomously flies on and hits the target thereafter.
This bypasses Russian electronic warfare systems, which only work by severing the drone operator’s connection to the drone, which the autonomous FPV drone does not need.
While not all Ukrainian FPV drones are yet equipped with this technology, Ukrainians were still able to destroy a large number of Russian vehicles and infantry trying to enter the settlement. In their hurry to report about their successful capture of the village and high Ukrainian losses, Russian channels even accidentally showed a destroyed Russian column of vehicles, thinking they were Ukrainian. The Russian drone operator had mistakenly identified the Russian vehicles as an American Bradley, Abrams, and several MRAP armored vehicles, and had proudly shown off their burning remains. Expectedly, the video was later deleted from their channel, but not before being picked up by Ukrainians.
Due to bad weather conditions and dense fog, Russians were still able to use their armored vehicles to deploy a decent amount of infantry in the settlement.
Ukrainian marines covering retreat under fire
These Russian infantry groups quickly continued their assaults against the undersupplied Ukrainian units still stuck in Lyubimovka. Ukrainians were horribly outmatched, as a Ukrainian officer in Kursk reported that they were outnumbered five to one in terms of manpower. In these conditions, Ukrainians had no option but to withdraw to more defensible positions in the settlements and behind the rivers.
Ukrainian commanders sent in a team of highly skilled marines to cover the retreat of a group of Ukrainian soldiers that had been fighting in the town for days on end, with many of them wounded. The Ukrainian marines, despite being only a group of nine soldiers, faced off against dozens of Russians who quickly overran their positions.
Faced with a difficult decision, the marines then called in artillery fire right on their own position to take as many Russian soldiers with them as they could. As heavy artillery shells and cluster munitions rained down on their position, the house they were hiding in took a direct hit and caught fire, and the marines were presumed dead. However, by nothing short of a miracle, all the marines made it back to camp alive, even picking up another wounded soldier on their way.
Resilience amid withdrawals and worsening conditions
The original footage of this insane operation can be found on Reporting From Ukraine’s Telegram channel. Ukrainians had to use the forests and tree lines to safely withdraw back to more defensible positions deeper in the salient.
The ability of Russian forces to cut off key supply lines and maintain pressure on Ukrainian positions with armored assaults has placed Ukrainian troops in increasingly vulnerable situations. Despite innovative countermeasures like autonomous FPV drones, Ukrainian forces have had to conduct strategic withdrawals from key areas to avoid encirclement.
However, even in dire circumstances, Ukrainian resilience remains prominent in battle, as seen in the marines’ remarkable actions and survival under heavy Russian assault.
With weather conditions deteriorating, control over hardened roads will play a decisive role in shaping the front lines in the coming months.
In our regular 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.
