Day 1069
On 26 January, there are a lot of interesting updates from the Pokrovsk direction.
Here, the Russian forces launched a bold push toward the outskirts of Pokrovsk, aiming to establish a crucial foothold for future operations. However, with razor wire blocking their path and piles of Russian bodies scattered across the fields, the relentless assaults only feed the growing carnage in front of the fortified Ukrainian lines.
The primary objective of the Russian attacks is to secure a foothold on the outskirts of Pokrovsk to amass forces and equipment for future offensives. However, their advance on the western flank is hampered by stretched logistics, open fields, and limited infrastructure in villages already devastated by fighting. The few remaining structures in these villages are insufficient for assembling larger forces, restricting assault units to just four soldiers each. Meanwhile, units advancing across open fields remain under constant fire.
To improve the numerical strength of their assault units and stabilize their logistics for more powerful assaults, the Russian commanders decided to switch their focus to a direct assault on the southwestern outskirts of Pokrovsk. By breaching the Ukrainian last line of defense in front of Pokrovsk, and establishing positions in the city’s southwestern outskirts and agglomerated settlements, the Russian forces could accumulate and station a larger number of forces and equipment for future assaults against the inner city.
The main target of the Russian assaults is the village of Zvirove, which, together with several other villages, form an urban agglomeration as a part of the city outskirts. For this effort, the Russian forces are trying to deploy as many mechanized assault units as possible across the open fields, deploying them now, since they will be mostly ineffective once the urban fighting starts.
The main advantage for Russian forces in this area is their logistical hub in Shevchenko, just two kilometers from Pokrovsk’s outskirts. Additionally, two hardened roads connect their positions to Zvirove and Pokrovsk, providing favorable conditions for their attacks.
However, if we look at the topographic map, we can see that the Ukrainians hold a significant advantage, as Pokrovsk sits at a higher elevation than Russian positions in Shevchenko and near the roads, enabling Ukrainian forces to maintain fire control over these routes. Additionally, high-rise buildings in the city’s southern part provide excellent vantage points for observing Russian movements and deploying reconnaissance and strike drones. Lastly, the city’s extensive infrastructure allows Ukrainian forces to concentrate troops and equipment, effectively countering Russian advances with all necessary weapon systems.
With this in mind, the Ukrainian forces positioned ATGM systems, including Javelins, to meet the Russian armored columns during their advance, utilizing their higher elevation and expanded field of view to effectively target and eliminate them. To further increase the chances of a successful destruction of Russian armored assaults, the Ukrainians set up razor wire defenses across the fields and roads in front of Pokrovsk and Zvirove, to slow down the Russian vehicles and infantry for more effective targeting and destruction.
Combat footage from the area reveals the destruction of a Russian column in the area by Javelin anti-tank systems, which effectively struck the Russian tanks and armored vehicles while crossing the open fields. This led to severe losses among the Russian mechanized formations, as many of them were already destroyed on the approaches, and before they could breach a gap for the infantry to exploit. This left only the surviving Russian foot soldiers to approach the razor wire defenses and cut them to open a gap. However, Ukrainians maintained constant surveillance of their defenses and concentrated their drones on the Russian breaches, creating absolute kill zones for Russian soldiers.
Overall, the Russian forces tried to intensify their direct assaults on the city of Pokrovsk to establish a foothold in the city and improve their logistical situation. However, the Ukrainians took advantage of their superior tactical positions and utilized the heights to eliminate the advancing Russian forces with ATGMs, as well as in meticulously planned defenses and kill zones. Ukrainian success at repulsing this large mechanized attack will force the Russians to rethink their plans for direct assaults on Pokrovsk, while the Ukrainians additionally reinforce their already powerful defenses.
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.
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