On 13 September, Russian military bloggers report
their units are increasingly understaffed and exhausted, yet forced to continue attacks. In
the Pokrovsk direction, Ukrainians brought the Russian offensive to a grinding halt while
an intense battle broke out over the railway bridge in front of Selydove. To increase
the pressure on the Russian lines even more, Ukrainians unleashed a new flamethrower drone
to burn the Russians out of their trenches. The main goal of the Russian Pokrovsk offensive
was to break through Ukrainian defense lines and march on the cities of Pokrovsk and
Myrnohrad. Pokrovsk is an important Ukrainian logistical center with a direct supply line
to Ukrainian units fighting in Chasiv-Yar, Toretsk, and Niu-York. To launch an attack
on Pokrovsk and secure their southern flank, Russians must fully break through two
important Ukrainian defensive lines in a series of major towns south of Pokrovsk. Ukrainians suffered from a large disparity
in forces compared to the Russians, and a disorganized command and control structure
left them with no coordinated defensive effort. The Ukrainian high command recently visited
the Pokrovsk direction in person to reorganize the defense and stabilize the situation.
Simultaneously, Russian forces sustained high losses during their offensive efforts and quickly
ran out of reserves to attack Ukrainian lines. Russian military bloggers state that Russian units
in the Pokrovsk direction have become increasingly understaffed and that Russian soldiers are
becoming increasingly exhausted but are forced to continue attacking Ukrainian lines anyway.
It is likely through the Ukrainian high command taking direct control over the situation and
the increasing Russian losses and exhaustion that Russians have not made any significant
territorial advancements in over a week. Russians stated that their rapid rate of
advancement had stopped because Ukrainians had moved reinforcements in from the Kursk direction,
Russians noted the presence of several mechanized brigades that had been redeployed. However, these
brigades had been fighting in this direction since the fall of Avdiivka, which means Russians were
likely trying to deflect from the reality of the situation. With rapid gains out of the question,
Russians have resorted back to positional warfare, launching direct frontal assaults
on the Ukrainian fortress towns. Ukrainians in turn, are managing an active defense
counterattacking vulnerable Russian advancements and positions, Ukrainians also deployed a new
type of drone here. They shared footage of an FPV- or heavy octocopter drone being mounted
with a canister filled with thermite that burns at around two thousand five hundred degrees
Celsius. Ukrainians used these drones to fly directly over Russian tree lines, detonating
Russian ammunition from the intense heat and removing burnable objects that could be used
as cover, such as trees, bushes and netting. Ukrainians also launched a series
of physical counterattacks, pushing Russians out of Krasnyi Yar and
undermining their attempted envelopment of Hrodivka. Geolocated footage also shows how
Ukrainians launched an assault on Halytsynivka, deploying an assault group here that prevented
Russians from directly assaulting Ukrainians in the Nevelske salient from behind. An intense
battle broke out over the railway bridge before Selydove. Geolocated footage shows how
Russians moved in an armored personnel carrier to deploy an infantry assault group
at the dachas in front of the Ukrainian town. A Ukrainian tank swiftly destroyed both the
armored vehicle and the Russian assault group before moving up to fire on Russian positions on
the other side of the railway embankment. Later, Russians tried again but met the same fate,
as Ukrainian tanks continued to destroy any Russian attempt to advance further
into the dachas. The Russians gave up and decided to block the railway bridge
so Ukrainian tanks would stop harassing their positions. Russians even tried to
park a tank directly under the bridge, but the tank crew was chased off and finished by
Ukrainian FPV drones before they could disable it. Ukrainians then sent in a tank crew, who quickly
jumped into the vehicle and drove off with it, later releasing a video elaborately showing
off their newly gained prize. Later, Ukrainians used an armored recovery vehicle
to open up a path through the railway bridge, while Russians used a precision-guided
air-to-ground missile to destroy it two days later. Nevertheless, Ukrainians reportedly
re-established a presence in the southern part of Mykhailivka. Maintaining a presence here
allows Ukrainians to create an advanced line of defense that would heavily disrupt
another direct Russian attack on Selydove. With the Ukrainian lines largely stabilized
and a severe lack of reinforcements making continued assaults impossible, Russians
are forced to scale back their attacks and enter a period of reorganization.
Russians are moving all available manpower and ammunition in this direction to
restart their offensive as soon as possible. However, the decreased Russian offensive
pressure also allowed Ukrainians to do the same: reinforce their units, prepare defensive
positions, and set up a stronger defense. This more static type of warfare also allows
the new Ukrainian ‘dragon’ drones to be much more effective, as Russians are sitting
in the same trenches and tree lines for a prolonged period of time. As these
‘dragon’ drones have been seen from the southern front up to the north, likely,
Ukrainians have effectively created a new, widely adopted weapon designed to target Russians
directly in their trenches much more effectively. On the other hand, Russian Colonel Aleksey
Ksenofontov "got drunk and sent dozens of mobilized and contract soldiers into a
deadly assault," including Shchebetun. The commander made it clear to them that
they were being taken to their deaths, and Bolvinova said she learned of her husband's
death on March 9. A month later, he was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, according to Kremlin
propagandist and Putin ally Vladimir Solovyov. While a commander like the current Acting
Commander of the military unit 29760 Averin D.S. who is not capable of making strong-willed
decisions and taking responsibility, Bolvinova said in her appeal to the Russian president.
In February, Andrei Morozov, a Russian soldier and military blogger was reported by his lawyer
to have died by suicide shortly after revealing the scale of Moscow's troop losses in the fight
for Avdiivka. Russia's former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had said that Moscow sustained
"minimal losses" in the fight for Avdiivka.