According to the Ukrainian expert, the third wave of the attack on Avdiivka has been going on for at least a week. In his opinion, Russia has problems with using its reserves due to the rainy season.
– This is Donbas, where there is over half a meter of black soil on the wet ground – it is practically liquid concrete that will not allow any form of equipment to pass through, he said.
He said that the Russians had therefore decided on a new tactic. It involves vehicles covering infantry from a long distance or from paved roads. However, artillery is increasingly entering combat instead of wheeled vehicles.
Switan estimated that artillery units are usually not numerous and one platoon consists of 30 people. However, there will be many such waves, even several dozen a day.
– They are dying, they are definitely leaving. But subsequent waves do not stop, there is a schedule. It is similar to the one Russia has already used in the Bakhmut area. Then it also transferred labor to our positions, said Switan.
ISW: Russian troops made progress near Avdiivka, Ukrainian troops made progress near Bakhmut
On Friday, Russian troops continued offensive operations near Avdiivka in the Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine and made progress, writes the American think tank Institute for War Studies (ISW) in its latest analysis. It also confirms, among others: movement of Ukrainian forces near Bakhmut.
The Russian army has moved slightly in the industrial zone southeast of Avdiivka, according to materials analyzed by ISW. Offensive operations were also carried out near Bakhmut and on the Kupiansk-Swatowe-Kreminna line. Russian troops also continued their offensive west and southwest of Donetsk on Friday, but made no progress. ISW, however, confirms that the Russians have moved to the border of the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, east of the town of Urozhayne.
Analysts write about a slight shift of Ukrainian forces southwest from the town of Robotyne in the western part of the Zaporozhye Oblast and near Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast.
On Friday, the Ukrainian side confirmed the establishment of several bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. The Ukrainian army is seeking to displace Russian forces from the area from which they can conduct artillery fire on the western bank of the Dnieper.
