04 Jan: Fastest 1-way trip. Desperate Russian Mad Max attack ends in disaster. - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Today, there are a lot of interesting updates from the Toretsk direction.

Here, as Russians again attempted to shift away from the vicious urban combat within the city, Russians launched another large mechanized offensive meant to encircle the southern flank of Toretsk. However, in doing so, Russians quickly found themselves in a trap, advancing through a narrow corridor with Ukrainian tanks raining devastating fire on them from above.

After weeks of relentless assaults on Toretsk, the Russians remain determined to encircle the city from the south. They shifted their focus to this area as the battle within the city was depleting their manpower and resources, with Russians losing at least a full mechanized battalion's worth of infantry in the urban fighting each week. Previously, Russians suffered a crushing defeat in their northern flanking attempt, where their assault groups were decimated by sniper fire, effectively ruling out this direction as a viable axis of advance.

The city's southern flank offers the best conditions for a Russian flanking maneuver. Unlike the high-rise urban environment of Toretsk, this area consists of the small towns of Shcherbynivka, Leonidivka, and Petrivka, made up of one-story houses. The Russian tactics here focus on breaching Ukrainian defenses with large mechanized assaults to deploy infantry assault groups behind Ukrainian lines, which scatter and take positions in the many basements. By advancing northward along the towns' elongated layout, Russians could reach Toretsk's rear and cut off crucial Ukrainian supply routes to the city.

The primary tactical advantage for Russian forces in Shcherbynivka lies in the concealment offered by its residential area. The over 1000 houses in the towns allow Russian troops to spread out, using the buildings and basements to avoid bunching up. This minimizes the Russian exposure to Ukrainian counterattacks and artillery strikes once entrenched, reducing potential losses.

However, If we look at the topographic map, we can see that Shcherbynivka is located in the lowlands together with the entire Russian attack vector, with Ukrainian positions overlooking the settlements on top of the hills. This forces Russian assaults to restrict their advance only along a narrow corridor in the lowlands, where the Ukrainian fighters can effectively observe the movement of Russian forces towards the town.

Stretched logistics across the narrow corridor in the lowlands gives Ukrainians ample time to detect and destroy Russian mechanized assaults by enforcing fire control from the higher elevations, immobilizing the Russian assault units. The narrowness of the Russian assault vector also made it easier for Ukrainians to conduct counter-raids, as all the Russian positions were in easy view of Ukrainian tanks, with no threat of a Russian flanking maneuver.

Combat footage from the area shows the destruction of a Russian mechanized assault group, including BMP-2s, by FPV drone strikes as they become exposed in the narrow open fields. As a result, only a small group of Russian soldiers dismounting from damaged vehicles manage to reach the houses of Shcherbynivka; as the footage shows how Ukrainian drones were relentlessly pursuing them. Ukrainian drone operators also tracked every building Russians attempted to hide in, allowing them to relay precise coordinates to Ukrainian tank crews, ending in the destruction of the entire Russian assault group and neutralizing their holdouts. Thanks to drone surveillance providing accurate coordinates, the tank crews can fire indirectly without exposing themselves to Russian fire, adopting a mobile artillery role to eliminate the enemy with utmost precision.

Overall, the Russians launched yet another assault on the southern flank of Toretsk in an attempt to encircle the city from the south. However, the concentration of their assault units in a narrow corridor within the lowlands resulted in the complete failure of their offensive. Ukrainians used the high ground to quickly detect the Russian assault groups, directing devastating tank fire from a safe distance. Continued failure to advance on the flanks will force Russians to continue their advance through the difficult urban terrain of Toretsk city, leading to an increased amount of casualties. As reports from Ukrainian soldiers active in the area suggest, Russians are losing over a hundred men a day during the brutal assaults.

[Callie1979]

1. Rec 1000X!! Thanks for the transcription.

[niyad]

2. Slava Ukraini. Thank you for the update.