Ukrainian 47th Brigade Avdiivka Counterattack Stops Russian Offensive

Russian forces are reportedly under pressure to deliver a 'victory' that Putin can announce in his annual holiday message to the country. 

Unfortunately for them, the seemingly heedless waste of Russian lives has yet to produce the outcome he wants, as Ukrainian units' smarter and better executed tactics continue to confound the Russian commanders in the sector. JL 

Euromaidan Press reports:

Despite the increased intensity of attacks, Russian forces failed to secure their gains and lost newly captured ground to a Ukrainian counterattack. Russian activity near Avdiivka has significantly increased over the past day because Russians are in the middle of the third wave of the offensive operation. Unfortunately for the Russians, such attacks come at a great cost. There are so many crates with bodies coming to the Rostov facilities that they have to leave them in the yard until the previous delivery is processed and frees up some space on the facilities.

More information became available about the recent Ukrainian counterattack that happened north of the chemical plant. Yesterday, I told you that according to the Ukrainian Avdiivka Military Head Vitaly Barabash, the Ukrainian counterattack was successful. Today, Ukrainian fighters from the 47th Mechanized Brigade released the combat footage showing what actually happened.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

The operation consisted of three stages: the assault on the strongpoint on the first intersection, in the middle of the tree line, and on the second intersection. The first thing Ukrainians did was launch artillery preparation.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

As you can see, the area consists of a series of small trenches.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

This is because there are two lines of concrete walls that Ukrainians were leveraging when firing at Russian forces in the tree line in front of them.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

So, the concrete walls were used as cover against enemy bullets, while the trenches were only used if Russians started engaging their artillery.

The problem for Russians is that Ukrainian trenches were located closer to the eastern wall, which is not very convenient when facing an attack from the west. Ukrainians tried to use this against Russians and forced them to hide from artillery and mortar fire further from the western wall while simultaneously undermining the Russian defense by eliminating the personnel.

In the meantime, Ukrainian fighters from the 67th Mechanized Brigade conducted an assault with Bradleys on the first strongpoint on the line.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

The infantry fighting vehicle successfully reached the enemy position, suppressed the enemy fire, and allowed for a successful landing of the infantry. Ukrainian fighters gradually dispersed and started closing the circle around Russian forces.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

So, the vehicle advanced from the west and assumed a firing position right in the middle of the tree lines, while Ukrainian soldiers entered both tree lines from the sides and finished Russian troops that tried to hide from machine gun fire.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

The next target immediately became the strongpoint in the central part of the tree line.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

The assault was once again conducted with the help of Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

In order to avoid direct fire from a machine gun, some Russian soldiers stepped out of the tree line and tried to hide in a small ditch between the trees and the field. Unfortunately for Russians, as there were no more tree branches above them, they automatically became exposed to Ukrainian assault drones.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

The video shows how Ukrainian kamikaze drones eliminated half of the group one by one. The drone strikes also kept Russians in the line of attack, simplifying the clearing operation. Eventually, the resistance was broken, and Ukrainians reestablished control over the tree line.

The last target became the area surrounded by concrete walls. Ukrainian Special Forces released a video showing how they hunted down Russian forces prior to the attack. Ukrainians prioritized clearing the western wall first because by pushing Russians away from it, the Ukrainian assault units could approach the position much more easily. The drone operators flew close to the enemy positions and revealed in graphic footage that there were no more Russians left.

Screenshot from a Reporting From Ukraine video.

Overall, despite the increased intensity of attacks and reduced stability in the region, Russian forces failed to secure their gains and lost the newly captured ground to a Ukrainian counterattack. Ukrainian fighters reported that the situation is expected to remain unstable as this is already the third or fourth time Russians had temporarily broken into the region. Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Commander Tarnavskyi noted that Russian activity near Avdiivka has significantly increased over the past day because Russians are in the middle of the third wave of the offensive operation. Unfortunately for Russians, such attacks come at a great cost, as there are so many crates with bodies coming to the Rostov facilities that they have to leave them in the yard until the previous delivery is processed and frees up some space on the facilities.