Don's Weekly, 16 December 2024: Part 1
by Donald Hill
Hello everybody!
With Tom outlining the ‘gist of Ukraine/ZSU’s problems’, two days ago, and as usually, lets take a closer look at specific actions around the frontline of the War in Ukraine.
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Kursk
The 36th Brigade Marines (or, more specifically, one battalion of the brigade) use the mine/drone combination to stop a Russian assault near Darino. A member of that unit says that ATGM’s played a big role in stopping armored vehicles. They are more expensive but significantly more effective and it’s good news that they are available. His unit stopped 10-15% of the moving vehicles with drones, and then finished off the damaged vehicles with drones. They also stop an attacking moving south from Novoivanovka and plenty of unarmored vehicles and infantry were destroyed by drones.
At night and in a snowstorm, the 225th Battalion detected the deployment of a pontoon bridge and preparations for armored vehicles moving towards Darino. They were ready for them when the Russians attacked. The 1st Tank Brigade (which has most of its elements deployed in the Pokrovsk sector), uses drones to destroy vehicles near Darino. The 80th Brigade is operating closer to Cherkasskoe Porechnoe on the eastern side of the bulge, but their drones were helping out the Marines at Darino on the western side of the bulge. The flexible targeting across organizational boundaries demonstrates effective multi-unit communications - and should be the standard throughout Ukraine.
The 47th Brigade continues to engage with Russians near Novoivanovka. An M1 was caught by drones on the road to the village. At almost the same location a Russian BTR was destroyed by a drone so the ability to recover the tank is unknown.
The 8th Special Purpose Regiment racked up some kills with drones.
GRAPHIC: Magyar’s Birds harass a BTR and its occupants until all but one are dead, and the survivor takes care of himself.
Somewhere in the northeastern part of the Kursk bulge the Russian 11 Airborne Brigade advances with infantry in the snow.
Ukraine has been destroying Russian vehicles and infantry in front of Plekhovo and inside the village for two months. This week, Russia took control of the village.
3 kilometres north of Plekhovo, the Russians try to cross the Psel river again. Those that didn’t surrender - retreated.
There is a report that North Koreans in good physical shape took part in a large attack towards Malaya Loknya and suffered heavy casualties. They ignored their own wounded and Ukrainian defensive fires and some managed to occupy the Ukrainian trenches in one sector but counterattacks eliminated them. There are no reports of prisoners (privately, both sides are talking about ‘no prisoners being taken’). The 82nd and 95th Air Assault Brigades were the defending units.
Units that are staffed by both North Korean and Russian troops have suffered 200 losses so far - out of about 11,000 that are present. The language barrier is an issue and this led to North Korean troops firing on an Akhmat unit, killing eight. Anyone entering an area where North Korean troops are located must be approved by FSB checkpoints and then phones and other devices are seized.
A member of the 36th Marines seems to say that North Koreans are attached to the 810th Brigade and 22nd Regiment and took part in assaults, but as of December 14th he is yet to see any North Koreans.
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Kharkiv
West of Vovchansk, near Starytsia, the 101st Brigade uses remote mining and drones to stop an assault.
Most of northern Vovchansk is a barren wasteland of rubble. A small Russian squad crossed 500 meters to occupy a structure that was mostly intact. Ukrainian artillery hit it and one shell that landed in the building started generating smoke. The Russian poster accused Ukraine of using chemical weapons. Certainly, for a couple years now, Russia has used tear gas during bombardments.
It doesn’t matter what the weather conditions are. Someone still has to be on the front line and someone still has to be on the lookout for another attack. Most drones cannot function in high winds so it is an opportunity to attack when drones cannot observe and engage targets.
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Kupiansk
North of Kupiansk and south of Dvorichna, the Russians are still across the Oskil in the second crossing and have expanded the bridgehead by up to 800 meters.
South of Kupiansk, Russia advanced four kilometers in one location, and the village of Lozova is now surrounded on three sides.
To the east of Kolisnykivka, A Ukrainian tank was immobilized. A second tank was on the scene to recover it but the tow cable snapped. Under artillery fire, the operable tank leaves immediately. The crew of the immobilized tank scrambles out and runs to safety. Their tank is then destroyed.
The 92nd Brigade stopped a Russian assault north of Pischane, aided by the drones of the 77th Brigade.
A short video from when the 3rd Assault Brigade cleared out Kopanky, three weeks ago.
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Terny
The 3rd Assault Brigade uses drones to destroy infantry and vehicles, including a TOS rocket launcher.
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Siversk
The Russians recently replaced their commander in this area - for lying to his superiors. Last week, 400 troops, 30 armored vehicles, 60 motorcycles and support from artillery and drones were part of one of the largest and well-organized attacks since 2022. Ukraine’s defending units were the 54th mechanized, 10th Mountain, 81st Air Assault and 4th National Guard brigades. The Russians started losing people before they reached the front lines but they ignored the losses. There were some penetrations by the Russian squads after heavy fighting but the lines held and the Russian infantry is being cleared in ongoing operations.
Defensive operations such as this could and should be the standard.
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Bakhmut
The Russians parked a truck in a building but it was discovered.
Not all actions are captured on video and not all videos are released to the public, but there are very few videos of Russian airstrikes. Here’s a video of a Ukrainian airstrike targeting a building in Bakhmut.
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(…to be continued…)
Thanks for the update Don, detailed and extensive as always 👍
"His unit stopped 10-15% of the moving vehicles with drones, and then finished off the damaged vehicles with drones."
Maybe you mean that 10-15% were stopped by ATGMs, then the rest finished off with drones?