Feb 24: Death zone. Ukrainians detect and annihilate a large Russian attack force - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 731: Feb 24

Today there is a lot of news from the Bakhmut direction.

The most interesting news comes from the southern flank.

Here Ukrainians repelled several Russian attacks and prevented them from gaining any ground. Multiple videos emerged of Russian armor, supply vehicles, and ground troops being hunted down by FPV drone operators, anti-tank guided missiles, or even snipers. Ukrainian drone operators from the Ninety-third Mechanized Brigade distinguished themselves the most. One of the videos recorded near Kurdyumivka and Andriivka shows two Russian BMP-Two infantry fighting vehicles, one BTR-Eighty-Two armored transport being detected and subsequently destroyed by FPV drone, and one T-Ninety tank which was detected and struck by Ukrainian anti-tank operators of Third Border Guards Detachment. Several vehicles carrying ammunition and personnel were also destroyed while passing to Kurdyumivka, likely on their way to Bakhmut. This clearly shows that Ukrainians established firm fire control of the supply road, which implies that Russian logistical capabilities are being limited around here. Ukrainian drone operators fly as far as Bakhmut itself, one combat video shows a supply vehicle with ammunition being destroyed in a catastrophic explosion caused by a drone. A pile of mines with various ammunition was also detected and destroyed by drone operators near Kurdyumivka.

A rare video of a Ukrainian sniper was published as well, showing the demise of two Russian soldiers. Overall, Ukrainians are holding on to Klischiivka and there are no signs of Russians taking it anytime soon. Based on the extensive combat footage, it seems like Ukrainians are trying to undermine the Russian offensive effort on Ivanivske by increasing the intensity of their strikes on Russian equipment moving along the main grounds of communication.

Nonetheless, Russian forces maintain the tempo of their offensive effort regardless of the death toll and equipment losses. Last time we talked about this area, Russians managed to gain ground to the east of Ivanivske and claimed to launch assaults to the north of Ivanivske. After intense assaults that included storming of well-fortified Ukrainian positions, Russians managed to generate small gains to the south of the forest and advance to Ivanivske from the north. However, Ukrainians still firmly hold most of the tactical elevations in the area which leaves Russians no chance but to fight their way through to finally initiate their attack from the north. Otherwise, Ukrainians would launch counter-attacks on their exposed flanks. Russians understand this and in an attempt to fix Ukrainian troops, they are shelling the Ukrainian positions at the elevation to northwest of Ivanivske.

Russian military sources had reported earlier that Russian forces managed to break Ukrainian defenses to the east of the village and enter it. This was later confirmed by Ukrainian sources and fighters in the area. Russians launched intense artillery preparations including TOS-One thermobaric artillery to strike Ukrainian positions to make the assault easier. TOS-One is a destructive system whose thermobaric capabilities suck out the air in the area around the impact, making them far more deadly than ordinary artillery systems.

After artillery preparations, the Russians launched large armored assaults towards Ivanivske which managed to enter the village from the east and the south. However, this came at a heavy cost with dozens of armored vehicles getting destroyed on the approaches to the village by FPV drone operators of the SIGNUM drone detachment. Among the destroyed armored vehicles were at least three BMP-Threes, one BMP-Two, one BTR-Eighty-Two, and many, many more unrecognizable wrecks of destroyed columns. Russian forces were so numerous that Ukrainians had to deploy several drones at the same time to destroy the vehicles in the eastern part of the village. Ukrainian fighters in Ivanivske were reported to have engaged and destroyed a group of Russian forces that entered the center of the village and restricted them to its eastern edges. During the attack on Ivanivske, Russians launched one of the attacks from the tactical elevations north of Klischiivka, implying that Russians are not planning to use their advantage of tactical heights to continue advances towards Klischiivka but rather use them to support the attacks on Ivanivske...

[niyad]

1. Slava Ukraini. Thank you for the update.