22 Jan: Finally. Ukrainians Destroy Russian Island Artillery - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 333: January 22

Apart from new developments in the Zaporizhzhia region, a number of very important events took place in the Kherson region. Here, the Russians once again leveraged their positions on the islands to engage their artillery from a very short distance and quickly hide, however, today, the deployed Russian artillery units were caught red-handed and successfully destroyed.

As you remember, in the aftermath of the retreat from the western bank of the Dnipro River, the Russians retained control over most islands. One of the most problematic islands for the Ukrainians turned out to be the island Velykyi Potiomkin. The reason why it caused a lot of trouble for the Ukrainians is twofold.

Firstly, this is probably the most populated island on the Dnipro River’s delta, excluding the island within Kherson Citi’s administrative borders. Even though it looks empty, the outer part of the island has thousands of houses, so the area where the Russians can hide and establish their positions is really vast.

Secondly, this island is extremely close to many Ukrainian positions, including Kherson. The island part of Kherson is only 1.5 km away from the Russians. Other villages, such as Bilozerka, Dniprovske, and Berehove, are around 3-6 km away from the island, and all these settlements are constantly suffering from shelling, especially Kherson, where residential buildings become the target almost every day.

Over the last month, the Ukrainians were able to collect all the necessary information to simplify their counterbattery actions: they identified approximate time windows that the Russians usually used and rough coordinates of their positions. Today, when the Russian artillery unit was conducting yet another fire mission, the Ukrainians timely spotted the unit, adjusted the coordinates and transferred them to the artillery units that were waiting for the possible immediate need for counteraction, and fired at the Russians. Since the artillery duels took place between short-range artillery systems that are all located a maximum of 6 km from one another, it is almost impossible to timely reposition if your enemy has been waiting for you, which is why the Russian artillery unit operating in this region was destroyed.

Finally, when it comes to the Zaporizhzhia region, more details became available about Russian plans. When it comes to the villages to the west of Orikhiv, as you remember, the Russians established control over the grey zone area and attempted to attack Stepove. Unfortunately for the Russians, the attack seems to have failed. If we look at the topographic map, we can see that they were not only crossing the fields but also attacking uphill, which is extremely difficult. A similar situation happened near Scherbaky. Today the Russians adjusted their plans and assaulted Kamianske, which is located in the lowlands. The fights here are very tough, as the Russians are fixing Ukrainian troops by firing at them from the opposite side of the bay while another group is storming their flanks.

When it comes to the area to the east of Orikhiv, here the setting is completely different. Unlike in the western area, where the Ukrainians have small fortifications on the hills, here, the Ukrainians have big fortifications in the lowlands. Because these fortifications are well-developed, the first wave of attacks has been repelled, but because these positions are in the lowlands, it is much easier for the Russians to continue storming them. That is why I expect the clashes here to continue.

Overall, the Russians failed to achieve any progress by assaulting Ukrainian positions in front of Orikhiv because here, the Ukrainians have a lot of tactically advantageous positions. That is why the Russians are expected to shift their focus to the outskirts, where they can move along the valleys.