Russian forces resumed their offensive in the Avdiivka direction, facing reduced capabilities due to significant losses.
On October 19, there were a lot of interesting updates from the Avdiivka direction – YouTube channel Reporting from Ukraine reports.
Here, after several days of an operational pause, Russian forces resumed their offensive effort. Ukrainian fighters reported that the new wave of attacks reached almost the same intensity as during the first day and noted that Russians conduct airstrikes to support their attacks at least 11 times per day. Nonetheless, accumulated losses of equipment and personnel have visibly led to the exhaustion of the Russian offensive capabilities, as each subsequent wave of attacks is notably weaker than the previous ones.
And this is not surprising because, based only on the videos available on social media, Russians lost at least 63 tanks and armored fighting vehicles only on the northern flank of Avdiivka. As you can notice, most of the equipment was destroyed before it even reached the front, indicating that Ukrainian forces targeted Russian columns relentlessly. A fighter from the 24 Assault Brigade reported that the onslaught that Russians have suffered in this region is already incomparable to what we saw in Vuhledar, making one of the biggest Russian defeats.
By the way, Russians already lost the first and only tree line in front of Krasnohorivka that they initially managed to capture in the aftermath of this extensive mechanized assault because today’s geolocated footage revealed that Russian forces were destroyed right in front of it. The Russian assault unit, consisting of 4 tanks and 4 armored fighting vehicles, tried to cross the field and attack Ukrainian positions. Unfortunately for Russians, the third vehicle in the column got on a mine in the tree line, immobilizing the rest of the column and making it a perfect target for artillery. The first 2 vehicles that did not notice that they were left alone and continued the movement were destroyed, never reaching the next tree line.
It is important to note that the fact that Russians lost control over this tree line does not mean that Ukrainians regained it. A Russian soldier from Avdiivka explained this situation and said that when Russians initially established control over the trenches and fortification in this tree line, Ukrainians shelled it intensely with artillery and tanks to the point where all trenches disappeared. He said that this approach expanded the grey zone between the two sides and undermined the Russian offensive significantly because, as we saw in today’s video, now Russian assault units have to cross 2 fields in one go, giving Ukrainians more time to destroy them.
On top of that, recently released footage showed operations of Ukrainian mine-laying drones, which were produced on the basis of simple radio-controlled cars. These drones are deploying anti-tank mines not only as close to Russian positions as possible but also on the trails made by the Russian tanks to ensure that if the next assault unit tries to use the safe and tested route, it will for sure get on a mine. Such a specific use allows Ukrainians to respond to new developments as they unfold and bring Russians a lot of headaches.
It is important not to forget that Ukrainians also control the Terrikon, which is a 25-meter high artificial mount, which Ukrainians equipped with machine guns and ATGM positions. The ATGM crews have a wonderful view of the field where Russians try to advance and have no problem in targeting and destroying Russian tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
The Russian soldier concluded that the whole offensive is a mistake and is not worth the losses Russians incurred. He complained about insufficient preparation and lack of counterbattery fire. In fact, a Ukrainian soldier reported that each convoy Russians send loses 20 to 30 % of vehicles from artillery fire before they even get to the front. And Russians are hesitant to compensate for this with their aviation because Ukrainians destroyed 5 Russian fighter jets over the last 10 days, including 1 today, and 1 yesterday.
The Chief-in-Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeri Zaluzhnyi visited today the Avdiivka front. He said that he met with the high-level and brigade commanders that are operating in Avdiivka and identified what they need to do to neutralize the Russian offensive efforts and what are the urgent needs of the brigades that are holding defense. After that, Ukrainian fighters showed him the videos on their phones of how they intercepted Russian fighter jets this week.
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