Frontline report: Ukrainian special forces secure Kotlyne while repelling southern assaults

Day 1145 On 13 April, there were a lot of important updates from the Pokrovsk direction. After weeks of relentless assaults and tactical pressure, Ukrainian forces have finally sealed the ring around Kotlyne. With the encirclement now complete, they’ve begun the next phase of calculated clearing operations through the settlement’s ruins, which is already forcing Russian troops to flee, surrender, or be vanquished under drone fire and air strikes.

As you know from previous reports, Ukrainians gradually dismantled the outer layer of Russian defenses around Kotlyne, and launched a coordinated pincer operation, capturing the northern and southern parts of the settlement using thunder-run tactics.

Now, it was time to fully secure the encirclement, and initiate a clearing operation to remove the remaining Russian forces from the settlement, and consolidate full control of it.

To halt Ukrainian advances and prevent them from gaining the operational initiative, Russians launched constant meat-wave assaults all over the Pokrovsk front. Through these non-stop Russian assaults and the enormous Russian numerical advantage this caused, Ukrainians were forced back into defensive operations. However, the Russians could not keep up these tactics for long, as the Ukrainians positioned themselves to drain Russian reserves as efficiently as possible without losing their hard-fought gains, continuing to look for, and create weak spots to exploit. One opportunity quickly presented itself, as the tempo of Russian reinforcements moving into Kotlyne was prematurely halted, due to none of them making it across the fields alive. The Ukrainians had positioned machine gun squads working in tandem with recon and kamikaze drones to turn the fields in front of Kotlyne into a kill zone, where no Russians could pass.

This allowed Ukrainian forces to successfully encircle Russian troops in Kotlyne by advancing into the town's southern outskirts and clearing the tree belt along the railway. The next step was softening up the industrial zone, coordinated drone strikes targeted Russian positions in the industrial zone, forcing them into hiding in basement shelters. This was followed by JDAM-guided bomb strikes from Ukrainian Su-27's, causing massive casualties in one of the few buildings in the industrial zone that were still standing. The combined pressure from drone and air strikes inflicted heavy Russian losses and significantly damaged their morale.

The intense Ukrainian pressure shattered Russian defenses, and as casualties quickly ramped up, and with no relief on the way, many Russian soldiers decided to abandon their positions and flee. Exposing themselves in the open fields, they were immediately detected by Ukrainian drones and swiftly eliminated. Even minor movements between buildings were tracked in real time, leading to pinpoint strikes on Russian strongholds. In desperation, some Russian soldiers dropped their weapons, attempting to make it back to Russian lines faster; however, as they refused to surrender, and would rather withdraw to fight another day, they were ultimately targeted and eliminated by a series of FPV kamikaze drones. Overwhelmed by the swarm of Ukrainian drones, and without escape, several Russian soldiers opted to take their own lives instead, rather than wait for Ukrainian drones to finish the job. With most Russian positions in Kotlyne abandoned or destroyed, Ukrainian special forces were deployed to secure the village, clear out remaining enemy combatants, and neutralize landmines and booby traps. Encountering minimal resistance, they quickly consolidated control, eliminating a small number of Russian stragglers hiding out in basements using hand grenades and small arms fire. They also captured Russian communication equipment, which proved to be extremely useful in allowing Ukrainian units to advance further and carry out their next objectives safely. Overall, the Ukrainians successfully cleared and consolidated control of Kotlyne and placed the remaining Russian forces in an encirclement. Ukrainians did this while simultaneously defending themselves from the constant Russian meat-wave assaults from the south. Even though Ukrainians have a strong defense in place to repel these assaults, it does divide Ukrainians’ attention, which is why Ukrainians are taking their time and not rushing into hurried, risky, or casualty-heavy assaults to clear Kotlyne. This, in turn, will allow Ukrainians to keep advancing at a sustainable pace, as they slowly make their way to the besieged Russian forces in the industrial zone, and prepare for their final destruction if they refuse to surrender. 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: Ukraine’s elite brigade decimates half Russian battalion in single day
• Frontline report: Russia ran out of armor, so Ukraine is stopping waves of troops with one machine gun near Pokrovsk
• Frontline report: One river chokepoint could stop 30,000 Russian troops near Lyman – and Ukraine is hitting it hard