Don's Weekly, 11 March 2024: Part 1

Hello everybody!

I’ve been slowed down by my work on several of books that are due: thus didn’t manage to complete any of several features discussing the Ukrainian strategy, air defences and similar. Hope, you are going to remain as patient with me as until now: I’ll catch with all the stuff in some time.

Meanwhile, another week of the War in Ukraine is over and thus it’s the time for another Don’s weekly summaries.

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Western Luhansk

Ukrainian positions on the border with Russia have been hit with artillery, airstrikes and ballistic missiles from Sumy to Kupiansk. From Kupiansk to Kreminna there have been airstrikes and heavy artillery. While there is heavy fighting around Tabaivka and Terny the battle lines haven’t moved.

Three drone strikes are shown on a BMP. The first impacts the back of the turret and does the five Russian infantry on top of the vehicle no favors. The second drone impact is later in the day and shows the driver’s hatch open and a small cloud escaping the engine compartment before the drone impacts a vent. The third drone video suggests it is early evening. There is a small fire on the right side of the vehicle as it dives cleanly through the open driver’s hatch and into the illuminated interior…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1766205499706335483

Russian soldiers complaining about their leadership and living conditions is not new, nor has it changed. A soldier talks to his mother…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1766080332984467841

7 km from the front line, a Russian counter battery radar is destroyed. This particular model has a 40 km range, so it could have seen Ukrainian artillery 30 km from the front lines…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1765437312031240544

An Ukrainian S-300 radar and launcher were destroyed by Russian missiles…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1764950440603533607

Two Russian anti-tank guns and and a 152mm artillery gun were destroyed…

https://twitter.com/UaCoins/status/1766502340696117744

***

Bakhmut

The tall buildings in Chasiv Yar on both sides of the canal are being targeted by airstrikes to reduce them as defensive positions. Buildings in and trenches in front of Ivanivka are also being hit by accurate airstrikes and artillery, and Russian drone activity was heavy, but Russian assaults are always eliminated with losses. During one day, 15 Russian vehicles were destroyed or abandoned.

In front of Andriivka, but especially in the Klishchivka area, the timely arrival of artillery ammunition has helped Ukraine push back several Russian assaults with more loss of personnel and vehicles.

54 km southwest of Bakhmut, a HIMARS vehicle was spotted and destroyed by a Russian missile...

https://twitter.com/GeoConfirmed/status/1765152539433996722

East of Andriivka is a road with many disabled and destroyed Russian vehicles. At 1:48 it becomes GRAPHIC as grenades are used on infantry…

https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1766004909348954226

***

Avdiivka

The 47th Brigade is still causing casualties while holding Berdychi. The 3rd Assault Brigade was replaced by the 25th Airborne Brigade in Orlivka, which is fighting the Russians on the southern and eastern edge of the village. Ukraine has EW superiority in these sectors. Only 30% of Russian drones make it to Ukraine’s positions. The operators lost control of the rest of their drones, sometimes soon after launching. Ukrainian drones, though, are taking a heavy toll on Russian personnel and equipment.

A Russian tank in front of Tonenke is hit by an ATGM and there is a delayed secondary explosion…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1766094496297615580

A group of about 20 Russians is hunted by 8 DPICM shells…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1764569810891894935

A four-man Russian reconnaissance team was eliminated near Berdychi…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1766066911144522041

The thing about EW jamming is that when a frequency is jammed, neither enemy nor friendly units can use it. This Russian blogger claims that 70% of Russian drones are jammed and that Russian EW units are responsible. This may or may not be the case since Ukraine has strong EW units in the area. Regardless of the source of the jamming, it does suggest that Russia has limited capabilities to counter standard jamming activity…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765132378190557366

On the other hand, Ukraine operates in the same EW environment and a Russian blogger says the air is thick with Ukrainian drones. The Russian also calls Ukraine “Our Land” and says each Ukrainian drone is killing one Russian soldier…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765872020175135133

A seven man Russian patrol tried to cross an open field at night. A Ukrainian drone might have hit two of them…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765869123542589485

Just outside Avdiivka, Russian infantry in the open is attacked by DPICM…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1765431449862217743

A drone brings down the remnants of a roof on two Russian soldiers…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765129592027640114

A platoon of 18 Russian soldiers are attacked by multiple drones and continued to remain in groups instead of spreading out. Eventually, 15 of them are killed and the remaining three are wounded…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765120707011149938

About 1% of all ordnance does not explode, but one of the concerns about cluster munitions is that their dud rate ranges from over 2% (for US DPICM) to 40% (for some Russian cluster munitions). North of the coke plant and east of Stepove, a Russian unit was probably on their way to assault Berdychi when a soldier finds out that a bomb fragment laying on the ground wasn’t a bomb fragment…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1765360596243943769

A drone brings the roof down on Russians taking shelter in the battered house in the middle of Orlivka…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1766217453321826707

1500 meters north of the battle lines, Ukrainian positions are bombed by a Russian drone…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1766189737084088446

A fully fueled BMP is destroyed by a drone. Note the green treelines in the geolocating maps compared the brown remains in the video. The pockmarked craters only indicate some of the artillery and mortars that fell here over the last two years, going back to when Ukraine still held the territory…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1766080959546286210

Yet another Desert Cross 1000-3 is destroyed by a Ukrainian drone, this time south of Orlivka…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1764658191281864995

Andrew Perpetua talks about how the Russians use multiple drones to destroy defensive positions. 15 km north of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian Presidential Brigade is doing the same to a house after Russians ran inside…

https://twitter.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1766670130354806923

More footage from the previous battle in the city.

As the 3rd Assault Brigade moved in to set up a defensive perimeter they were looking for buildings that would provide some level of protection from Russian artillery and bombs. While pausing, it was better to stand in a crowded garage than be exposed to drones in the open. There were some issues with radio communications, as well.

Ideally, while a portion of the force remained in defensive positions on the surface, the rest of the force would be in the basement to rest and under better protection from bombardment. But the basement also needed to have more than one way in and out in case the walls of the building collapsed on the stairway, or in case Russian fire was trained on the stairway. In many cases, Ukrainians would dig alternate entry ways through the dirt walls of the basement. Given time, they could punch through a basement with concrete walls. But they were not planning on staying in the city too long so concrete walls in a basement could turn it into a death trap.

They ended up in another building that wasn’t the best for a defensive position but it was better than the one they were in. The video ends with a radio transmission that said friendly units were pulling back to positions on their left. In a chaotic situation, such as a fighting withdrawal, it’s important that all units communicate and coordinate so a unit isn’t isolated and exposed to attacks from unexpected directions…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1766377753694044258

(…to be continued…)