Reporting from Ukraine

Day 818: May 21

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Liman direction.

Here, Russian forces attempted to eliminate the Ukrainian bridgehead east of the Zherebets River. Meanwhile, Ukrainians are fiercely countering these assaults with relentless drone strikes and powerful artillery barrages and even started gaining more ground.

As stated in the previous report, Russian forces had exhausted their combat capabilities during their costly attempts to cross the river and attack Liman, forcing Russians to enter a period of reorganization. This allowed Ukrainians to counterattack and retake numerous positions in the tree lines. As Russians were still disorganized, they were unable to mount a counterattack and were forced to accept the Ukrainian tactical gains.

During the period of reorganization, Russian commanders realized that it was futile to simply continue their previous suicidal attacks, as Ukrainians would counter and destroy them all the same. Therefore, Russian commanders devised a strategy in an attempt to finally break through and collapse the Ukrainian bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river. Their plan consisted of two parts. First, they would conduct large infantry attacks in the direction of Terny and Yampolivka. Russian commanders hoped that a series of powerful attacks would divert the attention of the Ukrainian defenders toward the north. Hereafter, Russians would execute a powerful mechanized assault aimed at quickly breaking through the distracted Ukrainian defenders and establishing a foothold in Torske.

If the Russian assault on Torske succeeds, the Russians would cut off a major supply line to Ukrainians in the north and split the Ukrainian defenses in two. While such a breakthrough would be a severe blow to the Ukrainian defense, it would not mean the collapse of the bridgehead. Ukrainians still control numerous other crossing points over the river, with which to reinforce and supply their positions in the north.

With the Russian reorganization complete and a new course of action established, Russian forces resumed their offensive operation. A Ukrainian military blogger reported that Russians were launching numerous assaults towards Terny and Yampolivka. Russians were using armored transport vehicles to deliver infantry assault groups to the forests in front of the settlements before quickly pulling back before Ukrainians had the time to destroy them. The assault groups then continued their attacks on foot, assaulting Ukrainian positions from all sides.

Ukrainian soldiers active in the area reported that the fighting here was intense and that they had inflicted high casualties on Russian forces. The soldiers stated that Russian forces were able to capture two positions during these heavy clashes but that the Russian assault overall was a failure, as they had destroyed numerous Russian assault groups. Ukrainian drone operators then released geolocated footage showing how they were attacking Russian infantry in the forests and tree lines with drone-dropped grenades. The drone operators stated that their main goal was to inflict maximum losses on the enemy and to leave the Ukrainian infantry as little work to do as possible.

After these assaults, Russians launched a series of mechanized assaults in the direction of Torske, with a total of 10 armored vehicles and a high amount of infantry. The first assault was launched early in the morning and consisted of 3 armored personnel carriers and two tanks. Already on the approach, the Russian assault group came under heavy fire from Ukrainian artillery crews. When the Russian assault group reached an opening between the tree lines, it became apparent that Ukrainians had mined this chokepoint with anti-tank mines, creating a kill zone.

In the first assault, Russian armored vehicles were able to pass over these mines with mine rollers but were destroyed in the fields by Ukrainian artillery. Later, assault groups got stuck in this chokepoint, as Ukrainians managed to destroy a Russian vehicle here with artillery, blocking the path for those behind it. The footage then shows how the rest of the Russian armored vehicles came under a massive artillery barrage, even leading some vehicles to attempt to…