Day 1065 On 23 January, the biggest news comes from the Pokrovsk direction. Here, Ukrainian forces launch a daring counterattack to retake Kotlyne, exploiting the exhausted and disorganized Russian troops in a methodical assault.

With Russian forces so depleted that even the wounded were forced to fight, these tactics chip away at Russian forces' combat capabilities while forcing more Russians to hurl themselves into the meat grinder. With Russians recently taking tactically valuable positions in Kotlyne, Ukrainian forces initiated a series of counterattacks to retake the settlement from Russian forces with overwhelming firepower. The main advantage of Kotlyne is that it is located on both sides of the railway line, and a dense tree belt runs through it. The industrial plant to the north provides strong structures, large buildings, and underground facilities. It protects against artillery shelling and allows for the deployment of forces and an ammunition depot. Controlling this settlement is a crucial advantage for both Russians and Ukrainians in the larger battle for Pokrovsk.

To retake it, Ukrainians planned a complex assault operation into the village through the combined efforts of separate and assault groups. However, with Russians controlling a large portion of the settlement and industrial zones' defensive advantages, this would not be an easy task.

On the other hand, as you remember from a previous report, Russian forces were already so short on available manpower for their assaults that they had to send their wounded into battle on crutches. Ukrainians planned to exploit this, as it showed that Russian soldiers and men on the front line were in bad shape and would not be at all prepared to provide adequate resistance against a well-organized Ukrainian mechanized counterattack. The main advantage of the Ukrainian forces was their launching point in the city of Pokrovsk, whose large size allowed them to accumulate enough forces to launch a counterattack in relative safety against Russian detection. Furthermore, the proximity of Pokrovsk to Contlin meant that Ukrainians could quickly launch their counterattack before the Russians could send reinforcements or prepare their defense. With no space to hide any armor, the Russian contingent in Contlin consisted only of infantry, making them vulnerable to direct fire from Ukrainian armored vehicles. Lastly, the fact that Russians had rushed into the Contlin industrial district meant that their flanks had been left dangerously exposed. With continued Ukrainian control over Udak, the coal mine, the fields to the north, and Pokrov itself, the Russian contingent in Kotlyne had to take up an all-round defense, preparing to repel assaults from all directions while Ukrainians could observe Russian defenses from all sides. Ukrainians took advantage of this weakness by concentrating their push on the southern portion of Kotlyne in a calculated assault from Pokrovsk, breaking through the Russian weak point.

The attack started with a team of fighters conducting reconnaissance, scouting out Russian anti-tank mines and firing positions. After Ukrainian snipers cleared the road of mines, Ukrainians conducted a rapid tank crate targeting Russian positions and destroying them with direct fire from the main gun. Subsequently, Ukrainian armored vehicles deployed an assault group to storm the suppressed Russian positions. While Russians initially tried to resist the Ukrainian assault, they were quickly overwhelmed by grenades, whereby the Ukrainian assault group cleared the building with small arms fire. Simultaneously, a second Ukrainian assault group was deployed to strike and clear Russian trenches just outside the village, securing the flank of the first group. Once the operation was complete, additional Ukrainian reinforcements arrived to hold the newly captured village while the assault groups were evacuated. Overall, the tremendous losses suffered by the Russians in their previous assaults, coupled with a large number of incapacitated soldiers, prevented them from providing adequate resistance to the Ukrainian counterattack. Ukrainians retook Kotlyne from the Russians. With this, Russian forces that had rushed into the Northern Industrial Zone found themselves in operational encirclement, entirely cut off from reinforcements.

Continued operations like this will undermine Russian offensive momentum and put an even greater strain on their already limited reserves. Russians either become encircled and destroyed or are forced to commit an even greater number of soldiers to retake settlements they lose to Ukrainian counterattacks. 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: Russians send wounded soldiers on crutches to assault Pokrovsk as casualties hit 400 daily
• Frontline report: Russians send wounded soldiers on crutches to assault Pokrovsk as casualties hit 400 daily
• Frontline report: Ukraine’s drones decimate Russian motorbike assault, leaving single survivor