Don's Weekly, 6 January 2025: Part 2
by Donald Hill
(…continued from Part 1…)
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Toretsk
Since unexplained withdrawal of the 12th NG ‘Azov’ Brigade from this sector (the original ‘Azov Battalion’, meanwhile significantly expanded), back in November, the ZSU is defending this town with one complete brigade, a miscellany of battalions, and a lots of UAV-units - and losing ground. Why this, and how does it help to continue breaking down brigades into battalions strewn all over the 1,500-kilometres-long battlefield instead of keeping their parts together… both Tom and me can’t understand. We’re only sure: if everyone within the ZSU above the level of brigade commanders would be competent....no genius, just competent...Russian casualties would be 50% higher and Ukrainian casualties would be 50% lower, and places like Toretsk would never be lost.
Instead… well… we’re meanwhile ‘sounding like a broken record’; two additional parts of the town were lost, the last few days; and the Russians secured most of Leonidivka, too. ‘Mysteries of Syrsky & Buddies’…
Russia claims that their bombardment by a D-30 howitzer destroyed a drone control station consisting of an antenna and a Starlink module 2 km from the front lines.
Russian drones strike targets in northern Toretsk and Druzhba. Ukrainian drones also strike targets in northern Toretsk, attacking some with anti-tank mines.
This video shows the shelling of central Toretsk by Ukrainian artillery. It also shows the artillery piece firing in a trench deep enough to totally encase the gun with netting overhead.
A Ukrainian tank shells Russians that advanced into Shcherbynivka. Drones, infantry and a tank engage other Russian forces. The last ten seconds are GRAPHIC. Russian rockets land east of the village.
Russian vehicles and infantry are attacked in Leonidivka.
This might be an older video, because it’s showing how the Azov Brigade drones hunt a seven quad-bike assault.
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Pokrovsk
During the last week, Russia made small, but steady, gains at both ends of this sector. The 425th Skala Assault Battalion has been attacking advancing Russian units with drones and ground units from Novovasylivka to Pishchane. Acting as a ‘fire brigade’, the battalion counter attacks Russian assaults but: that single unit is not large enough to both secure and then hold all the ground recovered in this sector. On the eastern side, Russia is advancing around Vozdvyzhenka.
A Russian drone destroys a Ukrainian logistical vehicle on the southern edge of Pokrovsk. A second drone is sent to hunt the passengers and the damage is seen. Another pickup truck is destroyed.
A Ukrainian tank of the 32nd Brigade fires on Russian positions in Novotroitske at point blank range, probably two weeks ago. 1500 meters north of the village, 32nd Brigade drones attack Russians. A kilometer to the west, a BMP is destroyed.
The 425th Assault Skala Battalion captures a squad of Russians 800 meters east of Pischane. Afterwards, the Russians talk about their regrets.
50 meters north of Zelene, a Ukrainian BMP is hit. The immediate effect isn’t known, but by the time the second drone arrives it is fully engulfed in flames.
The 25th Brigade engages troops at Lysivka.
The 5th Assault Brigade has been documented fighting south of Chasiv Yar. Now a portion of that unit is engaging Russian troops at the northern end of Novohrodivka. The 38th Marine Brigade are also using drones in this area.
An abandoned Russian BMP 400 meters east of Novovasylivka is hit by a drone. A second drone hovers nearby for almost a minute, maybe to see if the small fire would spread, before hitting the BMP. 3 km south of the village a Russian MRAP and its infantry are attacked by drones. Inside the village itself, the 425th cleared Russians out of a row of houses. For now.
The 414th Drone Strike Brigade (Magyar) conducted attacks 4 km behind the front lines. An observer drone follows a group of Russians until they settle into a brick building. A drone is then sent to destroy them, but instead of entering the door and exploding inside, it missed the door and exploded outside. The Russians then leave to find a new building but persistent observation tracks them to the new location. This time, the drone explodes inside.
A Russian blogger said Ukraine ordered a large number of fiber optic spools from China and that Magyar’s drones are already using them in the Pokrovsk sector.
The nets provide some protection against drones for the trenches that connect to firing positions. They were supposedly built in a month in the Pokrovsk region. Hopefully, they were placed somewhere that is militarily useful. In the past, some defensive positions were actually beneficial to the Russians in their attack.
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Kurakhove
Kurakhove has fallen and there is less than six kilometers between Zelenivka and Shevchenko. Ukraine has another opportunity to withdraw without losing heavy casualties: indeed, the last two days, the ZSU in this sector pulled back as expected, to the line Dache - Yantarne.
On the eastern edge of Novoielyzavetivka, a crew of a Russian tank loses situational awareness and engages a Russian assault team at point blank range. On the western edge of the village, the Russian poster claims that Russian drones had success despite jamming from EW devices. In fact, each of the images show a loss of communication while the drones are still a long distance from their targets. It’s posted anyway and called a success. Just trust them. Later, the 11th NG Brigade (Ukraine) destroyed a T-80 and other Russian targets in the village.
At the southern edge of Petropavlivka, a Ukrainian BMP is destroyed. One kilometer to the east, another was destroyed.
Dachne and the western edge of Kurakhove are hit by rockets and artillery, respectively. Soon after, the Russians advanced the flag to the Kurakhove thermal power plant, effectively marking the end of Ukrainian control of the town. Ukrainian positions in Dachne is once again hit by artillery fire and rocket fire.
1500 meters north of Sukhi Yaly, the 37th Marine Brigade loses an AMX-10 wheeled light tank.
The 124th TD Brigade destroyed an MT-LB 3500 meters south of Rozlyv. The 37th Marines engage multiple vehicles and infantry in the same area.
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Velyka Novosilka
For whatever reason, there are very few reports from this sector.
A Russian drone flying over Velyka Novosilka urges Ukrainians to surrender.
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Kamianske
For the last two weeks there has been fighting around Kamianske initiated by the Ukrainians and they’ve gained about 500 meters. On the eastern edge of the city, Russian drones drop petal anti-personnel mines.
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Kherson
A Russian command post in between Krynky and Kozachy Laheri is bombed. The remaining walls of the structure are converted to gray dust covering the vegetation.
10 km from the destroyed Nova Kakhovka dam, Ukraine bombs a building inhabited by Russians in Koroby.
GRAPHIC: The 126th Territorial Defense Brigade used drones to drop bombs on any Russians that made it to Kozatsky Island.
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Crimea
Since May 2024, Magura-5 surface sea drones have been equipped with re-purposed R-73 infra-red homing, short-range, air-to-air missiles (we’ve seen the Serbs doing somethign of this kind, back in the late 1990s; then the Houthis in Yemen doing something of that kind sincce back in 2016). This took the Russians completely by surprise and a Ka-29 helicopter was reported shot down by a sea drone in June 2024.
Reason: the Russians have used helicopters to hunt sea drones.
The last week, near Cape Tarkhankut, on the western side of the Crimean peninsula, a sea drone shot down an Mi-8 helicopter. Initial reports said a second helicopter was damaged but later reports said a third helicopter was also destroyed. In the video, a Russian jet is seen, the sea drone is nearly hit by fire from a gun or machine gun, the missiles are seen streaking into the sky, one helicopter explodes and falls into the sea while the crew of the other helicopter releases flares in a attempt to save itself: R-73s can pull 40gs and thus hard manoeuvring is not of much help against them.
***
(…to be continued…)
Those sea drones are formidable. A powerful addition 👍.
It is so hopeless.