16 Jul: Elite Ukrainian Armor Units Roll Over Russian Positions! - Reporting from Ukraine

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

Here, Ukrainians have moved the 95th air assault brigade to the region to stabilize the situation and deplete Russian forces by conducting rapid counterattacks.

The main Russian goal is to straighten out the frontline and open up a second axis of advance toward Kostyantynivka, supporting their stagnating assault on Chasiv Yar. To advance toward Kostyantynivka, Russians must first take control of the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, and they have recently started advancing on the fortified city from two sides. However, as Russians have not moved large reserves to the region yet, the two Russian breakthroughs at Pivnichne and Niu-York are unlikely to be planned offensive operations but rather opportunistic strikes after a failed Ukrainian brigade rotation.

The lack of committed reserves by Russian forces puts a harsh deadline on Russian soldiers on the frontline. They have a limited amount of time to accomplish their goals before they run out of manpower, equipment, and, as such, their combat capabilities. Currently, Russians are trying to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses and cause an outright Ukrainian collapse by launching infantry assaults all over the equally fortified settlement of Pivnichne.

Russians also launched a large bombing campaign on the town, using glide bombs, thermobaric, and conventional artillery to target Ukrainian positions on the outskirts of the settlement and the high-rise district. The situation on the outskirts is highly volatile; Russian and Ukrainian geolocated footage shows both parties are active in the same area, where Russians are sometimes able to reach the outskirts but get quickly eliminated here as well.

To help stabilize the situation, the Ukrainian 95th air assault brigade, which the Ukrainian command often utilizes to stabilize critical situations, was called in as a rapid response force to counterattack and push Russian assault groups back out of the settlement. The first objective of the 95th brigade was to push Russians out of the northern outskirts of Pivnichne, as the south was guarded by the high-rise district, making Russian attacks in the north the more pressing issue. The brigade released a multitude of geolocated footage detailing their combat operations, as a Ukrainian drone filmed Russian assault groups entering houses on the outskirts. Ukrainians immediately fired on the building with artillery, halting the Russian attack. Their drone operators continued to heavily monitor the area, targeting any Russian movement or position with artillery, FPV drones, and drone-dropped grenades.

With Russian presence in the outskirts reduced to almost nothing, the next step was to eliminate their foothold in the so-called ‘arm’ of Pivnichne. To rapidly accomplish this, Ukrainians launched a counterattack with an armored personnel carrier, firing its automatic cannon along the ‘arm’ to destroy Russian positions they had established here. Interestingly, this was not an isolated operation, but Ukrainians continued to use armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles to undermine the Russian foothold. Ukrainians, on one occasion, even used a tank to fire high-explosive shells into more important Russian positions here to make sure they were destroyed. Finally, they engaged a Russian tank providing fire support for Russian units, disabling it before finishing it off with a drone-dropped grenade, resulting in an ammunition cook-off.

The sudden and high intensity of Ukrainian counterattacks on the outskirts has significantly weakened the Russian presence here and their foothold on the outskirts. While Ukrainians have not yet launched counterattacks to physically force the Russians out, drone operators have mined the supply routes with Baba Yaga octocopters, as well as dropping these mines directly on Russian positions.

Ukrainians do not just target these supply routes with mines but have them under FPV drone control as well, targeting any reinforcements with kamikaze strikes. Observation drones also mark these routes, leading Ukrainians to uncover Russian hideouts and engaging them with mortar fire.

While Ukrainian counterattacks in the north...