22 Mar: Ukrainians demolish Russian tank assault - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 392: March 22

Today there is a lot of news from the Donetsk region. Here, Russians conducted a massive mechanized assault on all Ukrainian positions south of Avdiivka in an attempt to draw Ukrainians’ attention to this line and breach the Ukrainian defense to the north of Avdiivka. However, despite the initial partial success, Russian forces were too slow to react to new developments on the ground, which led to the inevitable defeat.

Last time I told you that Russian forces abruptly reinforced the Avdiivka direction with heavy equipment, fixed Ukrainian troops in the south, and then delivered their main blow to the north of Avdiivka, entering the village of Stepove. I also told you that Ukrainians urgently engaged their reserves in Berdychi and sent a tank unit to push the Russians out.

The freshest reports suggest that the battles here were extremely difficult. Avdiivka Mayor reported that Russian forces were employing a greater number of aviation units in the area to support these operations and were also increasingly using S-300, Kh-59, and other missiles.

Some sources started reporting that Russians have already consolidated control over Stepove and are assaulting Berdychi. Some sources amplified these claims and said that Russians are also advancing in the direction of Orlivka. However, in reality, Russians were just engaging on the territory of Stepove with Ukrainian forces that were sent from Berdychi and Orlivka.

Russians had a very limited time to establish full control over this settlement because of the difficulties of sustaining the offensive on the other side of the railway embankment and under the fire from the hills. Judging by the latest reports, Russians failed to provide the necessary reinforcements timely, which allowed Ukrainians to get closer to the railways and establish fire control over the area, which they used for getting across the rails. Today, a Russian military-affiliated source confirmed that the fights are taking place east of Stepove. The footage was also released today, showing how a Ukrainian RPV squad sneaks close to the enemy positions, quickly unloads their man-portable thermobaric rocket launchers, and takes cover behind the houses.

Geolocated footage also shows that Russians are trying to get closer to Avdiivka from the northeast because Ukrainian drone operators from the 110th mechanized brigade started spotting and destroying Russian in the tree lines in front of Terrikon. However, for now, it is clear that Russians are not prioritizing frontal assault on Avdiivka and are just conducting relatively light reconnaissance.

When it comes to the southern part of the region, after an unsuccessful attempt to move around Ukrainian positions and attack them from the flanks, Russian forces were once again forced to attack Ukrainian positions on the hills in front of Vodiane. Geolocated footage shows that Russians engaged at least 3 tanks. The video shows that after 2 tanks were quickly destroyed, the third tank immediately started to back down.

Yesterday, a Ukrainian military spokesman stated that over the preceding 2 days, Russian forces lost about 3 companies worth of infantry in assaults on Avdiivka. The southern part of Avdiivka is primarily stormed by the DPR forces, more specifically, 1st Slavic Brigade. And a few days ago, one of the soldiers from this brigade effectively confirmed these claims and said that the formations had suffered heavy losses and conducted assaults without artillery support. The Institute for the Study of War evaluated the situation and stated that the rapid increase in the tempo of Russian operations has likely led to major losses, which will result in a rapid culmination of the Battle for Avdiivka, with a subsequent loss of initiative in this direction.

Overall, Russian forces prepared a sophisticated plan of how to capitalize on their recent gains around Krasnohorivka and try to immediately take Avdiivka into a pocket. The first stages of implementation were reasonably successful, as Russians did manage to breach several Ukrainian lines of fortifications in front of Opytne and draw Ukrainian attention to the south, however, they failed to establish full control over Stepove at once, failed to timely reinforce the assault units, which is why they lost the bridgehead and were pushed back east of the settlement.

[niyad]

1. Slava Ukraini! Thank you for the update.

[PortTack]

2. Cossacks they are!! Slava Ukraine!