08 Jun: New Gains Secured. Ukrainians Storm the 1st Line of Defense. - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 470: Jun 08

Today the most intense clashes took place in the Orikhiv direction. First of all, more information became available about the results of yesterday’s attacks. When it comes to Lobkove, if yesterday Russian sources claimed that this village is in the grey zone, then today Russian sources confirmed that Ukrainians had established total control over the settlement and started moving further. It was reported that in order to capitalize on these tactical gains, the size of the assault group has doubled: yesterday, Ukrainians used 4 Humvees and 2 tanks, while today, Ukrainians reportedly had 8 Humvees and 4 tanks.

When it comes to the attacks south of Orikhiv, more information became available here as well. Russian sources released combat footage of the aftermath of 2 Ukrainian attacks south of Mala Tokmachka, which features real Leopard tanks. During the first attack, Ukrainians used around 9 pieces of equipment, and during the second attack, they used around 11 pieces of equipment.

Unfortunately, the first assault group ran into mines, which allowed the Russian reconnaissance team to quickly spot the movement, request artillery support and repel the attack on the approach. After this incident, Russian drone operators were closely monitoring the region for hours on end and managed to detect the second group timely as well. This time the attack was prevented mostly by artillery fire, not mines. In total, Ukrainians lost at least 4 armored personnel carriers and 1 Leopard tank. Other equipment was reportedly damaged and later pulled back for reparation.

Based on the footage, we can identify that Ukrainians were moving along the tree line and were stopped right in front of the H-08 highway. If we look at the topographic map, we can see that Ukrainians were advancing in the direction of tactical heights.

Ukrainians quickly rectified their mistakes. Recently released footage shows how yesterday Ukrainians used M58 to demine the problematic areas. Ukrainians also conducted demining in multiple regions because otherwise, Russians would know that Ukrainians have only 1 viable path. Ukrainians also launched the attack before dawn in order to complicate the early detection of troops, and it worked out.

Today Russian sources reported that the first Ukrainian assault group managed to reach the first line of defense and start close combat fighting. It turned out that Ukrainians picked the area right in between 2 separate Russian companies, which allowed Ukrainians to exploit the lack of coordination on this section of the front line. After gaining a foothold, Ukrainians reportedly reinforced the attack group with 10 armored fighting vehicles, including several tanks, and around 100 troops to support 5 lines of attack.

At 5 am, Russian sources reported that they lost 1 tactical height, which means that Russian forces were also successfully split. After receiving more reinforcements, Ukrainians immediately started storming Russian defenses on the next tactical height, which Ukrainians reportedly shelled non-stop for 3 hours. The fights continued almost until the evening. The aftermath of the fights is hard to determine at this time. Mainstream Russian sources reported that Ukrainians did not manage to take more positions. Less prominent Russian sources cited a soldier on the ground who said that, in total, Ukrainians took several positions but did not breach the main line of defense. A Ukrainian soldier on the ground reported that they could finally see Polohy in binoculars.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed Ukrainians used 150 tanks and armored fighting vehicles. They stated that they repelled the attack and destroyed 30 tanks, including 3 Leopards and 10 other armored vehicles. This contradicts the reports of unofficial Russian sources, who also claim that a lot of equipment was destroyed, but unanimously say that Ukrainians are using far more wheeled vehicles, such as Humvees, than tanks. On top of that, due to the ongoing media hunt on Leopards, confirming losses became even more difficult as some sources started photoshopping Leopards into the real footage.

Overall, Russian sources reported that Ukrainians managed to succeed in only 1 out of 5 lines of attack. However, it is important to note that not all attacks are conducted to secure new positions. Just line in chess, some moves are meant to fix the enemy forces, stretch the forces as thinly as possible, distract the enemy drone operators, stretch the artillery fire as thinly as possible, confuse the enemy command as to where is the main attack, and create uncertainty about the deployment of the reserves.