Ukraine Stops Russian Armor—But Infiltrators Are Already Inside Pokrovsk
Russian infiltrators succeed where tank attacks often fail
Russian forces have begun attacking with tanks and other armored vehicles again after a long break from mechanized assaults. And while most of the mech assaults target the fortress city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, Russian vehicles are also on the move in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine.
“Looks like the tempo is a mechanized attack every few days,” analyst Jompy wrote.
The outcome for the Russians has been the same in the east and the south. Destroyed and damaged vehicles. Dead crew and passengers. But that doesn’t mean the Russians aren’t advancing. While vehicles burn, some Russian infantry are still slipping past Ukrainian defenses—on foot.
A little past noon on Monday, the Russian army’s 71st Mechanized Brigade mustered a powerful force for an attack on positions defended by the Ukrainian army’s 118th Mechanized Brigade in Mala Tokmachka, a key Ukrainian stronghold in Zaporizhzhia.
The Russians mobilized two companies with 26 vehicles, according to the Ukrainian 17th Army Corps, which oversees the 118th Mechanized Brigade. The vehicles included tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and Tiger armored trucks.
“They attacked in waves,” the 17th Army Corps reported. “And … were defeated.”
The corps claimed it knocked out two tanks, 12 IFVs, six APCs and two Tigers with drones, artillery and tanks that “worked in harmony.”
“Not a single position was lost,” the 17th Army Corps added. “The situation is under control.”
The corps apparently has a drone advantage over the southern front. “On the Zaporizhzhia direction, Russian units on secondary sectors of the front experience a shortage of UAVs and are forced to steal drones and components, including blades and engines, from other units,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies noted.
The Kremlin is clearly much more focused on Pokrovsk than it is on Mala Tokmachka. Indeed, Russian advances just south of Pokrovsk, led by the elite 90th Tank Division—the biggest division in the Russians army—may open an east-west path toward Zaporizhzhia city for Russian forces sooner than any attack from the south can do.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
