151 Russian Killed, 70 Wounded. Ukraine's Elite 1st Azov Corps Claims It's Rolling Up the Pokrovsk Infiltration.

Infiltrators require immediate reinforcement. Without it, they're vulnerable.

1at Azov Corps photo

The Ukrainian national guard’s 1st Azov Corps—a new multi-brigade force—claimed it’s clearing out the Russian infantry who marched right past empty Ukrainian trenches northeast of Pokrovsk last week, ultimately penetrating nine miles into Ukrainian territory and threatening a key supply line into Pokrovsk.

It’s possible the incursion is backfiring on the Russians—an outcome some Russian observers feared as the salient was initially developing. “Infiltration operations … have serious risks,” Russian war-blogger Military Informant warned.

The 1st Azov Corps, which oversees several elite brigade each with thousands of troops, led the Ukrainian counterattack a few days after Russian infantry were detected near Dobropillya, 10 miles north of Pokrovsk. There are just two main roads into besieged Pokrovsk, and one of them—the T0515—threads through Dobropillya.

“The coming days will show whether this penetration can be contained,” Tatarigami, the founder of the Ukrainian Frontelligence Insight analysis group, wrote on Tuesday. A day later, Tatarigami relayed rumors that the penetration near Dobropillya “is being contained” and possibly even “cut off as a result of Ukrainian counteractions.”

The 1st Azov Corps confirmed the rumors the same day.