26 Apr: Ukrainians Hit Overextended Russian Logistics to Undermine the Offensive - Reporting from Ukraine

Day 793: Apr 26

Today, there are a lot of developments in the Avdiivka direction.

Here, Russians are attempting to outflank the Ukrainian defenses to the north, while Ukrainians launched countermeasures to undermine the Russian offensive.

On the northern flank of Avdiivka, Russians are simultaneously attempting to advance towards the west and to the north. The long-term strategic goal of Russians to the North is to advance toward the Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, linking up with their offensive operation near Chasiv-Yar. The main idea of this operation is to take the Ukrainian forces in New York and Toretsk into a pocket.

If we look at the topographic map, we can see that in attacking Kostyantynivka from the south, the Russians must first take control over several hill ridges, all of which are under Ukrainian control. The eastmost hills are the first important step for Russians to take, as they allow Ukrainians to make constant flanking attacks on any possible Russian offensive north. As such, Ukrainians have established multiple strong fortifications on the heights and in multiple settlements around New York. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russians have been unable to break through these Ukrainian defenses. Therefore, Russians are attempting to bypass these fortifications by outflanking Ukrainians from the West.

But before Russians attempt such a large-scale flanking operation, they must first take control of the Ukrainian settlement of Novokalynove. Novokalynove is of high tactical and operational value for both the Russians and Ukrainians, as it is situated at the source of the Kalynivka River, linking the two heights together. As such, it severely threatens the Russian spearhead north by forcing the Russians to allocate forces to defend themselves from possible Ukrainian counterattacks.

During the preparation stages of the Russian spearhead towards Ocheretyne, Russian forces also used artillery and FAB-500 glide bombs to bomb Ukrainian positions in Novokalynove. Ukrainians responded by performing counter-battery operations with artillery and FPV-kamikaze drones. A video released by the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade shows the destruction of 2 Russian D-30 howitzers. Another video released by the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade shows them engaging and destroying 3 Russian MSTA-S self-propelled guns and a Grad-21 multiple rocket launcher system. Further released geolocated footage also shows Ukrainians intercepting one Russian T-90M tank on its way to resupply after an indirect fire mission. This shows the effect of Ukrainian counterbattery operations, as Russians were forced to use their tanks as artillery guns to compensate for their destroyed artillery.

After intense Russian artillery barrages and air strikes, Russian forces launched multiple waves of attacks on the settlement. Ukrainian sources reported that Russians had infiltrated the settlement with groups of 5 to 6 soldiers at a time to delay detection and provide a smaller target for Ukrainian artillery. Through this, Russians managed to quickly take control of the dairy farm and advance along multiple tree lines around the settlement. Geolocated footage shows that the fighting here was very intense. One video shows Ukrainian cluster munitions hitting Russian assault groups in the forest while simultaneously, Russian FAB glide bombs hit Ukrainian positions further down the line.

To stop the Russian advance, Ukrainian forces quickly performed counterattacks on the Russian assault groups and started destroying them with FPV kamikaze drones. Ukrainian drone operators shared geolocated footage of them engaging Russian assault groups in the dairy farm, as well as occupied houses on the outskirts of the settlement. Ukrainian soldiers of the 47th mechanized brigade also shared footage of counterattacks with Bradley infantry fighting vehicles east of the settlement. The video shows how the Ukrainian Bradley first drives up to the Russian positions in the tree line. The Bradley then lays down suppressive fire while a Ukrainian assault group dismounts, makes their way into the trenches, and clears out the Russian attackers. Ukrainian fighters also shared footage of another counterattack south of the settlement. Here, Ukrainians used a tank and a Western armored vehicle to drop off and support another assault on Russian infantry in the tree lines.

Ukrainians realized that Russians would continue to execute these costly pure-infantry attacks on the settlement, no matter the cost.