Today, the biggest news comes from the Pokrovsk direction.
Here, the Russian offensive on Myrnohrad is reaching its breaking point, as repeated assaults are failing and the chance to encircle the town is slipping away.
With no options left, Russian forces are turning to scorched-earth tactics – flattening what they couldn't conquer in a final act of desperation.
Russian infiltration tactics fail in open terrain
Russia's goal is to establish a foothold in Myrnohrad and put pressure on the Ukrainians inside the town, forcing them into urban fighting under constant drone surveillance. If the Russians manage to establish positions inside Myrnohrad, the situation will replicate Pokrovsk, turning the whole town into a grey zone.
Russian forces try to exploit the infiltration tactics that proved effective in Pokrovsk, where small assault teams of one to three soldiers used nearby settlements to infiltrate Ukrainian positions.
However, this approach has failed around Myrnohrad due to the vastly different landscape. The town is surrounded by open fields that provide little concealment and offer Ukrainian defenders clear visibility and precise fire control, making covert advances nearly impossible.
The main Russian pressure currently comes from the east and south, while in the north, their forces are focused on holding the line and cannot attack the town directly.
Weather conditions and drone warfare shape battlefield dynamics
In this sector, the drone activity is one of the highest on the frontline, which makes movement extremely difficult and dangerous. However, bad weather conditions, such as fog, allow the Russians to move a bit more freely because of the low visibility.
This is something the Ukrainians also exploit, as it allows them to bring in supplies and rotate soldiers, who would be otherwise hunted down by Russian drones.
As the rainy season is in full force, mud is another disadvantage for the Russians, because armored vehicles get stuck easily and become immobilized targets for the Ukrainian FPV drones.
The Russians are relying heavily on electronic warfare systems to jam them, but the Ukrainians adapted to the battlefield realities and bad weather by using fiber-optic drones to overcome them.
Ukrainian fiber-optic drones destroy Russian armored assaults
Footage shows how the Russian forces attempted to mount an assault using armored vehicles under poor weather conditions.
Unfortunately for the Russians, despite their use of vehicles equipped with welded drone protection cages, the Perun Corps of the 79th Air Assault brigade dispatched their fiber-optic guided drones and attacked them. As a result, several armored vehicles were immobilized and subsequently destroyed.
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More footage shows how the Russians launched another assault using two PRP-4M lightly armored vehicles again under the cover of fog, but the Ukrainian soldiers were on high alert and had drones equipped with thermal sensors to detect and track the enemy. As the Russian column approached the dragon's teeth, the anti-tank obstacles funneled them into a carefully prepared kill zone.
One of the vehicles hit an anti-tank mine and got immobilized, forcing the attackers to dismount earlier under the watchful eyes of the Ukrainian drones. The surviving troops tried to take cover in a forest belt, but were hunted down due to their contrasting thermal footprint, leaving corpses and another failed assault behind.
Russia turns to scorched-earth tactics with FAB-3000 bombs
Because of the series of unsuccessful attempts to break into Myrnohrad, the Russian forces reverted to scorched-earth tactics, employing one of their most powerful conventional munitions, the 3-ton Fab 3,000 bomb. It has a 1,400 kilogram warhead and a devastating fragment radius, enabling severe destruction of hardened structures.
The usage of such munitions tells a lot about the level of desperation of the Russians, as even if they succeed in demolishing the high-rise buildings and capturing the town, this will leave them without positions to use.
Russian forces face strategic dilemma as Myrnohrad defenses hold
Overall, despite the relentless assaults with different tactics and the huge number of losses, the Russians haven't been able to penetrate Myrnohrad's defense.
Similar to what happened to other towns that remained out of their reach, the Russian command has now turned its efforts into leveling Myrnohrad down, so it becomes undefendable.
Despite the brutal bombardments, as long as Myrnohrad's supply lines remain open, Russian advances across the surrounding fields will incur disproportionate casualties, so the Russian officers must choose between trying to seize Pokrovsk to sever logistics or switch their attention to launching more direct, high-intensity assaults on Myrnohrad.
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.
