Don's Weekly, 28 December 2023: Part 1

Hello everybody!

I know, you can’t wait for more of our reports and updates, and, be sure: we would like to prepare more. But, that’s taking time, and both Don and me have not only our families, but work to do, too. And when then public holidays ‘come in between’, too… Of course, we’re perfectly aware, that’s more pleasant than what Ukrainians in Ukraine - and especially all the ZSU troops in the trench-lines between Topoli and Heroiske - are going through, the last two months. Be sure, just like they, we’re trying our best.

The last 7-10 days, the fighting all along those trench-lines went on with all of what’s left of the Russian military might. Ukrainians are holding - and hitting back - as hard as they can. Don’s going to summarise all the details for you, below.

Now, I know, the mod in Ukraine is, generally, ‘sinister’: everybody is discouraged by the lack of Western support of the last few months, and by reports about lack of troops etc. Me thinks, things are far from that bad, actually: nowhere near as bad as in March or May-July the last year, for example; not even as bad as in October-November the last year. At least certain sorts of Western support are still arriving, and well… be sure, there are people pushing like hell for this to improve.

Rather unsurprisingly, over the last 7-10 days, the ZSU not only managed clearing and recovering Stepove: the village is no ‘no-man/grey zone’ any more. That’s how comes that yesterday the Russians launched a new, extremely fierce attempt to assault: details are still flowing in, so don’t kill me if anything of the following is ‘not entirely correct’, but: apparently, they’ve sent a reinforced battalion at least, supported by tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Ukrainians beat them back again: preliminary reports are indicating that over half the Russian force failed to return to its starting positions. Especially M2/3 Bradleys of the 47th Mech were scything the Russians to the left and right, like there was no tomorrow: BMP-3s confronting them stood not much chance.

Thus, I would say: yes, it’s far from ideal that the war is going on, it’s nothing but tragic to see how many people get killed or maimed every single day, and there’s no end in sight. But, things could be massively worse, and yet: they’re not.

Thanks to people serving in the ZSU, and holding out, no matter what.

***

Western Luhansk

Russia has conducted persistent attacks around Kupiansk and Luhansk since the Kharkiv offensive came to a halt. There have been surges, such as the eight brigade attack west of Svatove at the end of July, and there have been pauses to regroup or send desperately needed reinforcements to Robotyne, but little has changed along the line in over a year. Russia is still attacking along the battlefront but they’ve made a particularly strong push towards Synkivka and have lost a lot of personnel and vehicles doing so. They managed to gain control of a few houses at the edge of the village but the Ukrainians pushed them out. The Ukrainians are also pushing back in the forest north of Synkivka. There are no signs of Ukraine’s defenses cracking anytime soon in this sector.

A 14 minute video of a Ukrainian air defense unit near Kupiansk. “The Russian drone rose 5 km away and sees all of this here. The war is so terrible now that we see everything about them and they see everything about us. [What is attacked] depends on what they think is the main thing and what we choose to prioritize”. It’s difficult to jam the Orlan drones because it changes frequencies every 53 milliseconds. Drones are engaged with missiles and cannon, and one anti-aircraft cannon attacked Russian ground troops 800 m away before quickly withdrawing.

A Russian assault near Kreminna is stopped with artillery. Understand that if Ukraine had enough ammo, each shell would be accompanied by five others. That is the western standard. The problem is, NATO doesn’t have enough shells for the western standard, regardless of who’s firing them…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1737831882736480761

Another assault into Synkivka…

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1738481170361282807

Russian infantry in the forest north of Synkivka are bombed by a drone…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1737860074448752904

A Russian patrol in the same forest is also bombed…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1737066514874818849

A Ukrainian night assault into a forest north of Synkivka…

https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1736874257102094712

Bakhmut

Last May, Ukraine began a limited counterattack south of Bakhmut spearheaded by the 3rd Assault Brigade. It was a modest assault that gained some ground but it just kept going. Methodical, careful and efficient. More than the ground they gained, they chewed up an entire Russian brigade in a month at a cost of five killed soldiers of their own. They kept grinding forward until October when they were pulled out for a well deserved rest. One of the reasons they were pulled out was because Russia moved 80,000 men to Bakhmut, twice what the Russians sent to Avdiivka, and started launching relentless attacks. Attacking was becoming too expensive for Ukraine. It was better to defend to preserve Ukrainian lives and expend Russian soldiers. In the last month, Russia was able to advance 3 km in front of Yahidne to even out the lines. Everywhere else, they’ve been stable.

Also back in May, a Russian tank was destroyed by a Ukrainian tank. The Ukrainian tank then survived three Russian ATGM attacks…

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1736678677717389768

Ukrainian drones attack Russian infantry…

https://twitter.com/EjShahid/status/1734334097990857008

The police unit that replaced the 3rd Assault Brigade conducts assaults, as well…

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1737384281029148876

Supposedly a collaborator lost his leg in a drone attack…

https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1737966037868400900

(…to be continued…)