To Advance Near Pokrovsk, Russian Troops March Over A 'Carpet Of Corpses'

Ukrainian drones make every step extremely dangerous

425th Assault Regiment photo

Russian troops are marching over a “carpet of corpses” as they try to reach the chaotic salient northeast of the fortress city of Pokrovsk.

That’s according to Russian soldier Alexander Zaborovsky, whose account historian and analyst Chris O’Wiki helpfully translated and reposted.

The fighting in the 25-square-mile salient—extending from the neighboring villages of Nove Shakhove and Pankivka north to Kucheriv Yar—is sheer chaos as Ukrainian brigades and Russian regiments intermingle on a battlefield with no clear front line.

The Russians aim to extend the salient north and west in order to surround Pokrovsk. The Ukrainians aim to stop them in order to forestall a wider Russian advance toward the twin cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. But the clarity of their respective missions belies the lack of clarity on the battlefield.

One Ukrainian soldier likened the fighting to “the penetration of atoms of one substance between the atoms of another.” The enemy could be in front of you or behind you—or both—at all times.

Conditions are nightmarish for both sides. The Russians have more troops but the Ukrainians have control of the air thanks to thousands of tiny drones operating on at least five different radio channels. The more channels, the harder it is to jam all the drones.