Today there are a lot of updates from the Bakhmut direction. The most interesting updates come from the area of Chasiv Yar.
Here, a small squad of just eight Ukrainian soldiers held off Russian attempts to besiege the main Ukrainian force in the Kanal district for seventy days. Because of their daring stand against numerically superior Russians, they saved time for the main force in the Kanal district to withdraw while the heroic squad linked up with the main force and evacuated.
As previously reported, the Ukrainians maintained strong defensive positions in the Kanal district, which were gradually weakened by Russian glide bomb strikes and artillery shelling. The Ukrainians relied on two main supply routes to sustain these positions and resist the Russian attacks. The primary supply line was a bridge directly connecting the Kanal district to the rest of the town, while the secondary route extended from the forest to the north.
Ukrainian ground lines of communication between Kalynivka and the Kanal district passed through the forest. This forest enabled the Ukrainian fighters to transfer supplies and reinforcements to the Kanal district, and provided significant advantages for the Ukrainians, as it effectively concealed their movements from detection by Russian drones.
Consequently, the Russian drones were unable to relay information to their artillery and aviation, leaving the Russian command unaware of the Ukrainian activities in this forest.
Forest cover provided all of the equipment, including anti-tank missiles, rifle ammunition, food, water, and medical supplies for troops in Kanal. This made it very important for the defense of Chasiv Yar, as the entire defensive line in this area was dependent on forest supplies.
However, the dense forest cover was a double-edged sword for the Ukrainian fighters. While it helped conceal Ukrainian troop movements, it also provided the same advantage to the Russians, who used the forest to mask their efforts to assault Ukrainian positions.
In one such incident, a group of at least eight Ukrainian fighters from the 225th Assault Battalion and the 223d Marine Battalion ended up cut off from the mainland.
While the Russian forces typically deployed small squads for reconnaissance or sabotage, they decided to try and eliminate this small group of Ukrainian fighters. The Ukrainian squad, positioned in a trench—one of many concealed defensive positions in the area—was at significant risk.
If the Russians captured these fighters, they would likely have been forced to reveal the locations of other defensive positions scattered throughout the forest. Moreover, if the Russians gained a foothold in these trenches, they could have launched further assaults, jeopardizing the Ukrainian forces in the Kanal district and putting them at risk of encirclement and destruction.
The fighters of the Ukrainian squad knew that losing their position would have severe consequences for all forces in Chasiv Yar, so they were determined to hold out as long as possible. Russian troops quickly encircled them and imposed fire control with small arms, making it impossible for the Ukrainians to leave their positions. The Russians aimed to starve the Ukrainian squad of food and supplies to force their surrender.
However, the leading Ukrainian force in the western part of the forest managed to supply the besieged squad with provisions dropped by drones. This was the only reason this group survived for over seventy days in these dire conditions, surrounded by Russian forces. Eventually, the main force of the two-hundred-twenty-fifth assault battalion and two-hundred-twenty-third marine battalion cleared the path to the trapped soldiers.
The leading force in the western section of the forest outnumbered the Russian groups dispatched to the forest, so they linked up with the besieged Ukrainian squad. Simultaneously, all Ukrainian forces that withdrew from the Kanal district moved into the same forest to recuperate and reorganize for further operations.
Subsequently, all Ukrainian troops on the eastern side of the canal successfully withdrew and moved to the prepared fallback positions in the Novy district. These defensive positions are strategically located in front of a ten-meter-wide canal within a gulley, making any potential Russian assault across it highly problematic.
Overall, the Ukrainian fighters managed to protect the northern flank of the Kanal district from a Russian encirclement with just eight men and enabled Ukrainian forces in the district to withdraw orderly.
Thanks to the decisive defense of the eight-man squad the main force of hundreds of troops managed to hold out for seventy more days in the Kanal district. Once reinforced and resupplied, these withdrawn forces will continue to play a vital role in defense in depth to slow down the Russians.
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.
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