Ukrainian forces executed limited but successful counterattacks in three sectors of the eastern fighting front to take back territory captured by Russian forces, Thursday news and battle reports said.
A video published on Wednesday by Ukraine’s Airborne Forces Command credited the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade with assaulting and clearing the village of Kotlyne near the fortress city of Pokrovsk earlier in the week.
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The 25th is a longstanding regular Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) formation with a battle record stretching back to 2014. Ukraine’s only major unit organized to attack by air drops, since February 2022, 25th Brigade has fought almost exclusively in the Pokrovsk sector.
Russian forces captured the tactically important Kotlyne village in January to place the main supply road to Pokrovsk under fire. The Russian success threatened Pokrovsk, a keystone in Ukrainian defenses in the mineral-rich Donbas region, with encirclement.
A single battalion from 25th Brigade recaptured Kotlyne in a combined operation backed by three other formations, 15th, 115th and 1st Slav Brigade, unit spokesman Serhiy Okishev said in video published on Wednesday by Ukraine’s Airborne Forces command.
Battalion commander Serhiy Hera, in AFU-published comments, said more than a month of planning, intelligence collection, preparatory training, and 24/7 first-person view (FPV) drone attacks against Russian troops in the village took place before the actual assault went in at night. Drone video showed Ukrainian infantry infiltrating the village from two directions.
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Other images showed retreating Russian soldiers coming under fire from anti-personnel grenades dropped by bomber drones, kamikaze attacks by FPV drones, and shell and mortar strikes. A 25th Brigade statement claimed two companies of Russian soldiers – some 150-250 men – were destroyed running that gauntlet.
An AFU statement said Ukrainian forces captured the village on Tuesday. The independent US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) among others confirmed the Ukrainian success.
In the video, three men stated to a camera that they were Russian soldiers taken prisoner by 25th Airborne paratroopers. One soldier said he and his mates had been taken prisoner in an assault by that brigade’s third battalion and that they had received good treatment from the Ukrainians. Hera said that Russian soldiers captured by his men “had poor morale.”
Ukrainian soldiers and officers throughout the war have complained that AFU operations can be rushed and poorly planned. Combat leaders, particularly in more professional branches of the AFU like the paratroopers, marines, and assault infantry have called for better organization, deliberate cross-unit coordination, and assignment of realistic objectives. The Airborne Forces video of the successful Kotlyne assault appeared to profile those tactics. A Friday Army General Staff (AGS) statement said the 25th Brigade attack went well and recaptured the village.
Some battle information platforms on Friday reported Kyiv forces had also scored advances in the western outskirts of the Donbas region towns of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, to the northeast of Pokrovsk, but there was less conclusive evidence.
Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from central Toretsk in early February after more than a month of bloody attacks. Ukrainian fortifications in Chasiv Yar, a town on high ground, have barred all but incremental Russian advances in that sector for more than a year.
Official Ukrainian statements identified 93rd Mechanized Brigade, a seasoned unit with a strong combat record, as heavily engaged in the Toretsk sector in “meeting battles” and “counterattacks.” The Russian Rybar Z information channel on Wednesday said Ukrainian assaults had recaptured two coal mines and their adjacent slag heaps in the center of the city. The gain, if consolidated, would advance Ukrainian lines about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), however, sources on both sides said fighting taking place in built-up areas was confused.
Russian and Ukrainian official sources were at odds over fighting in Chasiv Yar, with Russia’s Defense Ministry singling out 98th Airborne Division for successful advances, and Joint Forces Khortytsia reporting 24th Mechanized Brigade was conducting offensive operations.
Ukraine’s eastern defenses in January suffered twin regional defeats in early February with the loss of Kurakhove, a transport and power grid center to the west of Pokrovsk, and the adjacent town Velyka Novosilka. If held, the Ukrainian advances at Kotlyne, Toretsk and Chasiv Yar would mark an at least local reversal of that trend.
A Thursday morning statement from Joint Forces Command Khortytsia reported Russian forces had launched a new round of assaults in the Pokrovsk sector but claimed Ukrainian defenses were holding at most points: “The invaders tried to realize their numerical superiority and break through our defensive positions in the areas of the settlements of Tarasivka, Novotoretske, Myrolyubivka, Promyn, Kotlyne, Udachne and Nadiyivka. Fighting continues in Lysivka, Pishchane and Dachenske. To deliver assault units to our positions near Uspenivka, the enemy used three vehicles, which were destroyed by our artillery fire.”
According to Ukrainian officials, the pace and frequency of Russian assaults across the Donbas region has abated somewhat. During the month of February, Russians captured about 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of Ukrainian territory, compared to 350 square kilometers (135 square miles) in January, the independent battle data tracking group DeepState reported.
On Thursday the senior Ukrainian officer responsible for defenses in the eastern Donbas sector, Major General Andriy Hnatov, was effectively promoted with an appointment to the job of Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He had commanded the Joint Forces Khortytsia group for eight months, during which time Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas sector strengthened and the pace of Russian assaults slowed down. His predecessor was sacked for failing to stop a major Russian offensive.
A new-generation Ukrainian combat commander, Hnatov began his career in Ukraine’s marine brigade in the 2010s. He was raised to senior command in Feb. 2024 following a shake-up of leadership at the top of the AFU.
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