Weekly Frontline Update: Cluster munitions save Ukraine from Russian onslaught on eastern front

Russia intensified attacks on the eastern front. Russian troops tried to advance near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv Oblast and the Bakhmut sector (Donetsk Oblast). The Ukrainian Army repelled Russian attacks south of occupied Bakhmut. However, the Russians managed to advance north of Bakhmut.

Russia continued its onslaught on Avdiivka in the Donetsk Oblast, attempting to encircle the Ukrainian stronghold. Ukraine’s Armed Forces effectively used kamikaze drones and cluster munitions to halt Russian infantry-led attacks in critical sectors of the Avdiivka defense.

As Russia stepped up its offensive on the eastern front to seize the strategic initiative, the Ukrainians continued to expand their bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson Oblast (southern Ukraine).

Over the past week, Ukraine has carried out successful attacks on Russian warships in occupied Crimea. Apart from strikes at the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Ukrainians attacked military facilities behind Russia’s lines in the occupied territories of Ukraine and deep inside Russia.

Russian pressure on the eastern front

After more than a month of the Avdiivka offensive, heavy casualties, and minimal territorial gains, Russia had to regroup its forces for a new round of massive onslaught on the Ukrainian stronghold. The Russian army continued infantry-led attacks (so-called “meat assaults”) on the northern and southern flanks of Avdiivka.

Unlike the first weeks of the offensive in the Avdiivka sector, the Russians have stopped using tanks and armored vehicles en masse to break through Ukrainian defenses, which indirectly confirms the huge Russian losses.

Near Krasnohorivka, Donetsk oblast, the 31st Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a convoy of Russia's 5th Guards Motorised Rifle Division.

Tags: