Day 1161

On 29 April, there are a lot of intresting updates from the Belgorod direction.

Here, trapped in a hellish grind of constant losses, poor tactics, and relentless Ukrainian drone strikes, Russian soldiers are facing one of the lowest morale crises of the war. Recently, the alcohol abuse and desperation boiled over to the point, where drunk Russian soldiers started launching Rambo-style attacks.

After Ukraine’s initial incursion, Russia rushed in thousands of reinforcements, hundreds of whom were detected en route and wiped out by Ukrainian air strikes, shattering the Russian ability to launch organized counterattacks and scattering their troops. As this is forcing Russian tactics to once again devolve into unsupported infantry assaults, Russian commanders seemingly have no other choice, as letting up the pressure for even one moment may allow Ukrainians to secure more villages in Belgorod.

To conduct their assaults, the Russian infantry units are moving through the narrow tree lines and larger forests towards the villages of Demidivka and Popivka. If we look at the topographic map, we can see that the area has a high amount of relief, with gullies and river valleys spread all over the place. To achieve at least some cover against Ukrainian fire, Russians are trying to move through these terrain features to reach the relative safety of the settlements. Once in the settlements, Russians are much less exposed to Ukrainian fire, as the many abandoned and destroyed houses, basements, and cellars provide ample opportunities to seek shelter in.

To counter these tactics, Ukrainians are relying heavily on drone surveillance, monitoring the forest edges, and marking buildings they detect Russians moving into for subsequent FPV drone strikes. Additionally, well-equipped Ukrainian squads are deployed in and around the villages, able to quickly respond to Russian soldiers moving out in the open. With Ukrainian drones constantly monitoring Russian ground lines of communication and past airstrikes devastating logistics hubs and bases, consistent resupply has become nearly impossible; as footage from Demidivka shows how Russian soldiers are forced to trudge around with heavy packs carrying enough supplies for a long deployment.

Geolocated combat footage shows Ukrainian FPV drone operators using coordinated double-tap strikes on buildings housing Russian troops, the first breaking down any protective barriers, while the second flies in to eliminate the forces inside. Ukrainian drone operators also released images of the aftermath of several Russian assaults, where they attempted to move through an anti-tank ditch toward Ukrainian positions.

However, they were quickly exposed and cut down by a combination of FPV drones, grenades, and machine gun fire, resulting in over a dozen bodies spread out in and around the trench.

Lastly, Ukrainians released footage of how one of many Russian soldiers decided to find refuge in alcohol amidst the demoralizing combat situation with high losses and little space to hide. However, this soldier, completely losing the will to live, left his position and exposed himself in the open on the street.

In a Rambo style, the drunken men opened non-stop fire in the general direction of Ukrainians, alerting the concealed Ukrainian soldiers nearby, and prompting them to return fire on the Russian soldier. After getting shot, the Russian soldier was able to walk a bit further before eventually collapsing and succumbing to his wounds.

Low morale and rampant alcohol abuse among Russian troops reflect both the hopelessness of the situation they are in, as well as the negligence by their commanders. Failing to adequately support their assaults and using suicidal tactics resulted in heavy losses to Ukrainian drones and small arms fire. With no clear objective and mounting casualties, many survivors are losing the will to fight. The lack of command and control only worsened the situation, as troops were thrown into senseless attacks aimed only at sustaining pressure rather than securing real gains.

Overall, the Russians continued to launch disastrous assaults, where the unsustainable nature of these attacks and the incurred high losses caused the morale of the remaining Russian soldiers to collapse.

The suicidal nature of the Russian assaults, stemming from the inability to coordinate a combined counterattack, has been the leading cause of their failure to decisively defeat the Ukrainian Belgorod incursion, resulting in tremendous losses while being unable to mount a decisive pushback.

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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