Don's Weekly, 18 November 2024: Part 1

by Donald Hill

Hello everybody!

‘Continuing our round-the-clock-coverage’… it’s about the time to round-up the last week - which was a week of few ‘nice, little defence successes’ for Ukraine.

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Kursk

A Bradley with an anti-drone roof screen evacuates Ukrainian troops at Novy Put and survives anti-tank missiles, drones and mortar fire.

Multiple Russian vehicles were hit in Obukhovka, which was used as a staging ground for the attacks on Darino 4 km away. A Ukrainian Marine in the vicinity of Darino describes the Russian assault between November 9-11 in which the Russians effectively used fog and smoke to advance but lost 34 vehicles in those three days to drones and tanks. He said Russian casualties were high due to banzai attacks.

Multiple Russian vehicles were hit along the western and northern roads leading into Zelyonyi Shlyakh, just west of Novoivanovka. A video from the 225th Assault Battalion shows a Russian assault being hit as it entered Novoivanovka, and they destroyed two vehicles south of the village. The 225th reported that five columns came down the same road and were destroyed.

This video shows the MLRS bombardments and drone attacks targeting vehicles and infantry in the woods occupied by Ukrainians just south of Kremyanoe. More Ukrainian prisoners were executed, indicated on the map by a red ‘X’.

While it is still difficult to determine West of Pogrebki, the 95th Brigade stops a Russian assault and its drones bombed stationary targets.

A view from inside a Russian helicopter as other helicopters conduct a rocket spray-and-pray attack 12 km east of Pogrebki.

Russian infantry moving along the rail line are attacked by drones 2 km outside of Mirnyi.

While the Keystone Cops in Moscow continue announcing the encirclement of ‘thousands’ of Ukrainian troops in this and that forest, troops of the Group Kursk continued attacking north and south of Plyokhovo and directly into the village itself. A Russian assault across the river 2600 meters northwest of Plyokhovo was destroyed. One Russian MT-LB was destroyed in the western side of the village and a BTR was destroyed on the southern edge of the village. These Russian vehicles were destroyed 1300-2200 meters south of the village.

Overall, from November 7th to November 11th, Russia lost 77 armored vehicles in Kursk - for, actually, no gain at all.

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Kharkiv

After being relatively quiet for most of the week there are late reports that Russia may be trying to regain the ground lost last week west of Hlyboke, and that the Russians are again attacking through the ‘citadel’ in Vovchansk.

A Ukrainian soldier walks through open fields and mortar fire to reach southern Vovchansk.

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Western Luhansk

Russian soldiers wore Ukrainian uniforms when they launched four waves of attacks towards Kupiansk. This allowed them to pass through Ukrainian defenses. The attacks came from the north and a Russian column drove three kilometers to penetrate to the center of eastern Kupiansk, where they were eliminated or taken prisoner. Another Russian assault followed the same route and drones destroyed it before it reached the town.

It takes five minutes for a drone from the 77th Airmobile Brigade to count 120 Russian bodies near Kruhlikivka, the village next to the Oskil river.

Torske was bombed.

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Siversk

Driving towards Vyimka, Russians suffered over 30% casualties at the hands of the 10th Mountain Brigade, including this turtle tank. The Russians gained no territory, while the Ukrainians then pushed them about 1,000 meters back - to the Russian starting positions from early this year.

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Bakhmut

In heavy fighting, Russian forces penetrated to the center of Chasiv Yar. Counterattacks did yield some Russian prisoners.

South of the city, the 24th Brigade cleared some trenches all the way to the canal. East of the canal Russian forces made some advances.

In a sandbagged stabilization point, medical personnel treat Ukrainian wounded and plan to move away from the Russian advances.

A BMP crew of the 24th lost their track. Fortunately, the ground was dry, not muddy, and tank treads are much heavier. The experienced crew was able to fix it in about 20 minutes.

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Toretsk

There are reports that Ukraine is still advancing in northern Toretsk but there have been few visual references to establish the battle lines. There are large parks with plenty of trees throughout the city, but these are offering little cover at this time of the year. One way or the other, the Azov brigade continued pushing forward - in this case capturing seven prisoners.

There are thermal images of the heavy drone support for the Ukrainian assaults in Toretsk. Russia conducted their own drone attacks. The first image is a drone approaching a Ukrainian BMP west of Toretsk and the rest are attacks in southern Toretsk. In a few images, the video feed is jammed as the drone approaches, so we cannot tell if the drone hit the intended target or impacted nearby. One of the best defenses against drones is not to be seen by drones.

A Ukrainian machine gunner uses his angle to eliminate a pair of Russian infantrymen a couple hundred meters away.

16 km southwest of Toretsk, the Russians bomb Kalynove.

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Kurakhove

The Russians occupied the eastern half of Kurakhove and the are using airstrikes and artillery to blast their way deeper into the town.

A Russian column is engaged by a Leopard tank from the 33rd Brigade. Drones hunt the surviving infantry.

Sukhi Yaly was hit by three bombs.

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Velyka Novosilka

The Russian spent the last week trying to advance through their own old minefields in this sector. They lost a T-80 and five BMP-2’s. Drones also took a toll on other attacking forces.

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Zaporizhzhia

About 50 Russians that gathered about 18 km from the front line and were hit by four GMLRS.

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Black Sea

Russia is launching drones from helicopters to hunt Ukrainian naval drones.

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Unknown Location

A Russian drone came close to hitting a Ukrainian helicopter but EW jammed it.

Ukrainian night bombers claimed four Russian air defense systems in recent weeks.

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(…to be continued…)