15 Jul: Epic Fail. Russians send 100 men to their graves as a decoy in vain. - Reporting from Ukraine [View all]

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

Here, after several failed attempts to gain more ground west of Novomykhailivka in the past month, the Russians started preparing for their biggest attack so far. To achieve this, they amassed a substantial force of armored vehicles and infantry across several villages situated along the frontline in the region. In response, the Ukrainians took proactive measures to thwart all Russian efforts to penetrate their defensive line.

As battles in the region are characterized by mechanized Russian assault, which the Ukrainians counter with the vast creation of minefields and the usage of drones for intercepting enemy armored columns and for surveillance, the first step for the Ukrainians was to open the sky for more extensive drone operations. To achieve this and enhance their defensive capabilities which rely heavily on drones, they began proactively hunting Russian air defense assets. The following geolocated footage was taken by a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle Shark, which is locally developed and used not only for monitoring but also for adjusting fire on the battlefield. It has an effective range of up to 80 kilometers and in this instance, it showcases its potential by operating nearly at its limit, as the distance from the frontline to the located target exceeds 60 kilometers. The drone operator identifies a pair of Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems, which are stationary at the time but have radars capable of tracking targets while on the move. The next image shows a rapid development as one of the Russian TOR-M1 systems launches a rocket against the Ukrainian drone which was detected. Fortunately, the missile misses within meters, and moments later the drone captures how a called-in HIMARS strike hits the shooting air defense system, and then a second strike destroys the other one as well.

The destruction of such valuable Russian air defense assets opened the skies in the region successfully for the Ukrainians, so they were able to improve their control of the air just in time as the Russians soon started their biggest assault that we have seen in recent months in the vicinity of Novomykhailivka. As all previous attempts of the Russian forces here failed due to the Ukrainian multi-layer tactic of creating death zones with the combined use of mines, artillery, and FPV drones, this time the Russian commanders decided to use stronger assault groups than before and to try a simultaneous attack on 3 vectors - to the north, to the south, and in front of the village. This tactical approach aimed at overstretching and overloading the local defense which could have led to an effective breakthrough at one of the vectors.

After suffering heavy losses of equipment in other areas due to the Ukrainians' effective use of anti-tank mines, the Russians prepared for an attack north of Novomykhailivka by deploying a T-72B3M tank equipped with a mine trawl, intended to clear a path for the subsequent assault group. However, the early detection of the tank by the Ukrainians allowed them to swiftly intercept and destroy it with kamikaze drones. The released geolocated video footage shows multiple hits on the tank, successfully thwarting the initial Russian move in this direction.

Simultaneously, for their attack on the southern vector, the Russians reused the pathway west of the small village of Solodke. This route was partially cleared of mines and familiar to them from a previous offensive attempt. This time, they assembled a larger attack group consisting of tanks, various other armored vehicles, dozens of motorcycles, and infantry. Due to the size of this formation, they lost the element of surprise and were quickly spotted and engaged by soldiers of the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade. The Ukrainians targeted the Russians with artillery and FPV drones once they were within range. The shocking footage not only captures the deadly Ukrainian attack but also reveals the devastating aftermath, with more than 10 Russian armored vehicles destroyed, including tanks, MT-LBs, BMP-1s, and BMP-2s. The images of burned-out motorcycle remnants and heavily wounded Russian soldiers hiding underscore the suicidal nature of yet another Russian attack. The original, uncensored combat footage of all operations can be found on our Telegram channel through the link in the description...