14 Oct: Genius. Ukrainian Tanks Attack Under The Cover Of Dense Smokescreen - Reporting from Ukraine

Day 598: Oct 14

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

Here, Ukrainian forces continued expanding their bridgehead westward, and, according to the recently released geolocated footage, Ukrainians established control over multiple crucial trenches and fortifications and have almost pushed Russians from the hills back into the lowlands.

Ukrainian fighters from the 128 Assault Brigade released a video showing how they conducted a spectacular tank assault on a powerful Russian strongpoint. The Ukrainian commanders developed a very clever tactic that allowed one small assault unit to breach hundreds of meters of complex trenches between multiple tree lines. Ukrainian analysts stated that the key to the success of this assault was picking the attack vector. As you can see, the first part of the assault unit, namely, the tank, advanced to the left of the tree line, which means that more than half of the Russian troops could not open fire at the tank because 2 tree lines were obstructing the view. Moreover, Ukrainians deployed a smokescreen on the other side of the route, creating a narrow corridor for advance. This way, the assault group completely isolated itself from any possible flank attack – the only threat is the front, however, this is what the tank is for. The tank crew not only leveraged the front armor that shielded the assault unit behind but also continuously fired at the Russians in the trenches, not allowing the enemy to even raise his head. After the tank closed the distance, the Russians started running away. A few seconds later, a Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle with infantry arrived at the spot, and Ukrainians started clearing the trenches. As the armored fighting vehicle opened supporting fire from a machine gun and the artillery started shelling the second part of the trench network, the Russians decided to run away altogether. A powerful strongpoint was cleared without losses in a matter of minutes.

The Ukrainian General Staff and Tavriisk Group Commander Oleksandr Tarnavskyi also reported that Ukrainian forces improved their tactical positions west of Robotyne. Here, the main focus of Ukrainian forces became the remnants of the first line of defense that stretch toward Kopani through the fields. Russian sources published videos of how they were striking Ukrainian soldiers inside the newly captured trenches with drones, indirectly confirming that Russians lost control over another trench network. Russian military analysts also vaguely confirmed that Ukrainian forces marginally advanced towards Kopani.

Moreover, some Ukrainian analysts claimed that Ukrainians pushed Russians from two big fields northeast of Kopani. So far, I have not encountered visual evidence of the fighting taking place along these tree lines, however, if this turns out to be true, then Russian forces virtually completely lost control over the hill between Robotyne and Kopani. If we look at the topographic map, we can see that this elevated platform gives a substantial tactical advantage. A consolidated control over this area will secure Ukrainian flanks in full.

In the meantime, Ukrainian reconnaissance teams detected Russian reconnaissance drone operators in the fields near Kutuzivka, which is around 25 km from the front. Interestingly, Ukrainian drones continued to supervise Russians and waited until they got back their drone. Once the operators saw that the Russian drone was coming back, they gave the signal to the HIMARS crews to launch the rockets at the spot. The rockets arrived before the Russians managed to pack the drone and drive away.

Apart from hitting Kutuzivka, Ukrainian forces also conducted a HIMARS strike on the Russian bases in Tokmak. Russian sources reported that there were at least 4 explosions. Ukrainian analysts speculated the targets of the strike were warehouses with ammunition and equipment because, simultaneously, Russians suffered a sabotage attack in Melitopol.

The target of the sabotage attack became the railways that were used for supplying Russian forces in the region with fuel, ammunition, and equipment. The operation was carried out by the assets of Ukrainian Special Forces.