The Russian army has retaken the initiative in its war in Ukraine, launching renewed assaults and gaining ground in multiple sectors across the 1,600-kilometer fighting front at the price of, in some battles, punishing losses, particularly in hard-to-replace high-tech weapons systems. The most substantial and widely confirmed Russian advance was around the village Krokhmalne, in the north-eastern Luhansk-Kupiansk sector, where according to Russian information platforms on Jan. 22 first reported mechanized infantry backed by armor from Russia’s 153rd Tank Regiment overcame Ukrainian defenses. Russian state television showed images of T-80BV tanks bombarding Ukrainian positions at long range, without visible Ukrainian counter-fire.
Экипажи танков Т-80БВ группировки войск «Запад» уничтожают укрепрайоны и блиндажи ВСУ на Купянском направлении. pic.twitter.com/92XKsZcA2o — Миша (@Misa14949560) January 23, 2024
Ukrainian army spokesmen acknowledged the loss, encompassing the village and a two-by-two square kilometer block of land around it, later in the day. Advertisement By Tuesday images surfaced of jubilant Russian soldiers purportedly from the 153rd Regiment inside Krokhmalne.
Ukrainian army spokesman Volodymyr Fitio in televised comments aired nationally on Sunday evening during a television marathon downplayed the defeat, saying Ukrainian troops relocated to better positions and that the loss of a ruined village with five buildings was part of a Kyiv strategy to prioritize the destruction of Russian soldiers and weapons. Defense lines in the sector are stable and Russian losses are climbing, he claimed. Other Topics of Interest Russian Murderer Pardoned and Released – After Only 3 Months Fighting in Ukraine A rapist and murderer from Vladivostok, was pardoned by Putin to participate in his “special military operation,” returned home after 3 months and the victim’s husband was not told. “The enemy cannot advance further, and there is no threat to neighboring units. I believe that what happened is a temporary phenomenon because the front line shifts daily,” Fitio said in part.
Attacking Russian troops on Monday according to both Kremlin- and Kyiv-friendly sources also broke into the center of the village of Bohdanivka, a suburb of the battlefield city Bakhmut, and house-to-house fighting reportedly was in progress. A key coal-mining center of Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region, Bakhmut was captured by Kremlin forces in August 2023 after nearly nine months of bloody attacks. According to unconfirmed reports in Russian military information platforms, Kremlin troops deployed in the Bakhmut sector over the weekend advanced some 500 meters and captured the village Vesele. Advertisement Yet another Russian ground gain was reported on Monday in the eastern city of Avdiivka, where Russian ground forces have been attacking since the Summer of 2023 against increasingly thinly stretched Ukrainian defenses. The latest Russian advance took over a chain of heavily reinforced fortifications in Avdiivka's southern suburbs held by Ukrainian forces since 2014, the pro-Moscow military blogger U_G_M reported. Ukrainian mil-bloggers confirmed the report.
Report from Avdiivka concerning an FPV-drone unit belonging to the "Bozha Sprava" unit of the 47th Mechanised Brigade, mentioning Russian "digging tactics" and their widespread use of infantry after significant vehicle losses. pic.twitter.com/nMzUUyAa9y — WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) January 22, 2024