Today, there is interesting news from the Kurakhove direction, Donetsk Oblast.
Here, the Russians attempted to disrupt the rear of the Ukrainian defense line by conducting a rapid uppercut attack. As it turned out, the Ukrainians were already expecting it, annihilating the Russian vanguard, and leaving hundreds of dead Russians in the fields.
In their continued push through the southwestern sector of Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces launched yet another costly and futile operation, this time aimed at capturing the village of Bahatyr.
The strategic ambition behind the offensive is clear, as the Russian command wants to press along the Zaporizhzhia–Kostiantynivka highway, potentially advancing toward the regional border between Dnipro and Donetsk. This objective offers no real operational or strategic value but is driven by symbolic value and territorial optics, seizing more land to claim informational victories and extending the buffer zone around Donetsk city.
To achieve this, Russia has pursued a series of tactical maneuvers designed to cut off Ukrainian positions along the highway. These so-called uppercut movements seek to rupture Ukrainian lines from the south, bypassing major defenses to isolate positions further west. The pattern has already emerged: first Dachne, then Ulaky, then an attempted advance toward Kostiantynopil, each involving flanking efforts aimed at squeezing Ukrainian logistics and forcing staggered withdrawals. Bahatyr became the latest focal point in this creeping assault.
Operationally, Russia tries to storm Bahatyr with a combination of motorcycle and quad-bike rush tactics. These rapid assaults target the village’s flanks and field roads, with the intent to infiltrate residential areas, occupy basements, and build up numbers to contest control. Tactically, this kind of assault depends on speed and shock, catching defenders off balance before reinforcements can respond.
But Ukrainian forces were ready, and the result was a disaster for Russia. In what can only be described as a massacre, dozens of Russian troops were killed in open terrain as they attempted to cross mined fields and exposed roads.
Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck with devastating precision, obliterating motorcycle teams mid-advance. Minefields tore through columns of bikes and quads. Grenades dropped by drones finished what remained. Russian corpses and wreckage littered the approaches to the village, turning the attempted assault into a bloodbath. The attack failed to even reach its staging objectives, and most of the force was annihilated before reaching shelter.
Some Russian soldiers did manage to infiltrate parts of Bahatyr during night movements or under the cover of fire. When this happened, Ukrainian special forces launched immediate clearing operations. These are not random responses, but pre-coordinated sweeps designed to prevent Russian troops from consolidating within the village.
Ukrainian tactics here focus on denying the enemy the time or space to build up critical mass inside the settlement. If left unchecked, even small Russian infiltration units could become a foothold capable of drawing more forces and exerting rear pressure on Ukrainian lines to the north.
The counterattacks proved successful, and by the end, Ukrainians had ensured the village was 95% free of enemy presence, securing its functionality as a defensive position, as holding Bahatyr is vital. By nullifying all Russian gains and making the Russians lose hundreds of soldiers for nothing, the Ukrainians underscored the futility of the Russian attacks and the general Russian approach to the war, where thousands are thrown each day into the meatgrinder with more political than military logic and yet the results are missing.
Overall, Russia’s reckless assault on Bahatyr achieved nothing but losses. If they have managed to establish control there, the Russians would have had a launchpad to undermine the defense of Kostiantynopil and force Ukrainian units to retreat, not because of direct defeat, but due to severed supply lines and the looming threat of encirclement. For Ukraine, however, the successful defense and counteraction show how discipline, coordination, and clever usage of weapons like drones and mines can turn even a vulnerable frontline village into a fortress and a graveyard for the invaders.
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.
