Frontline report: Ukrainian marines on US Oshkosh M-ATVs storm Russian trenches in strategic heights preventing cauldron near Kurakhove

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Kurakhove direction in Donetsk Oblast. 

Here, the Russians are trying to create a cauldron around the village of Uspenivka and take it, as it is a significant obstacle for their offensive effort to encircle a large group of Ukrainians. However, the Ukrainians thwarted Russian offensive efforts by deploying the Elite Marine Corps, establishing a formidable defense belt, and preventing Russian penetration.

Uspenivka and its fortifications are part of a larger defense line along the Sukhi Yaly River, which includes the villages of Uspenivka, Hannivka, Veselyi Hai, Romanivka, Illinka, Yelyzavetivka and Katerynivka. For the past month, the main Russian axis of advance in this area was from the east, in the area of Katerynivka. The Russian plan here was to engage in a slow grinding battle for control of the towns along the Sukhi Yaly River one by one, which was expected to last for years.

Russians shift strategy to close the cauldron

However, for Russians to approach Yelyzavetivka after a month of intense fighting for the village of Katerynivka, they had to cross the Solodka River, which is a tributary to Sukhi Yaly, merging the two rivers and enhancing the Ukrainian defense with a natural barrier. To make matters worse for the Russians, with the narrow width of the Sukhi Yaly River Valley, Russian forces do not have much space to maneuver, exposing them as vulnerable against Ukrainian FPV drones covering the area, as the route of advance is predictable.

Combat footage from the area reveals how drone operators of the Ukrainian 779th Assault Brigade managed to destroy or damage five Russian armored vehicles in two days. Furthermore, the only bridge that enables crossing to the Ukrainian side of the Sukhi Yaly and Solodka rivers in this frontline section is destroyed. The attempt of such a river crossing could result in way higher losses for the Russians than the potential risk of rendering their units’ combat ineffective from such an operation.

This made the Russian command consider changing its approach, instead switching its focus from Yelyzavetivka to Uspenivka. After the large Russian territorial gains after the fall of Vuhledar, the Russian offensive towards Kurakhove enabled them to approach the Sukhi Yaly defense line from the south and the north from the village of Dalne.

Russian forces in the area of the Sukhi Yaly line aim to attack the Ukrainian defenses from two pincers by approaching Uspenivka. Uspenivka is the main highway intersection and the main supply hub for Ukrainian forces on the Sukhi Yaly defense line. If the Russians take over Uspenivka, the Ukrainian forces in the rest of the Sukhi Yaly line would be forced to withdraw, abandoning their positions to the Russians without resistance.

Ukrainian marines halted Russian advance for weeks or even months

However, the Ukrainians identified a critical weak spot in the Russian positions, which consisted of a less defended line of trenches. These positions are in an elevated area overlooking the highway to Uspenivka and Russian rear positions in the lowlands. By controlling them, the Ukrainian fighters could cancel the planned Russian assault on Uspenivka by establishing fire control of their axis of advance along the highway, thus forcing the Russians to try and retake control of the tactical elevation.

To execute this operation, the Ukrainians deployed their Elite Marine Corps, modeled after the US Marines, to storm the Russian positions south of Uspenivka. The Marines were deployed on US-supplied M8V Oshkosh armored vehicles, effectively suppressing Russian trenches with machine gun fire, enabling the dismounting Marines to storm them. After a prolonged battle, they were able to take the Russian positions to the south of Uspenivka and capture several Russian soldiers, which revealed critical information about their planned operations.

Overall, the Ukrainians managed to undermine the Russian operations along the Sukhi Yaly line by first forcing them to try and attack from the south in an attempt to create a pincer, only then for the Ukrainians to cancel the formation of this pincer and threaten the whole line of advance by holding tactical elevations. These developments on the front line will force the Russians to switch their focus from Uspenivka to the positions retaken by the Ukrainian fighters, delaying their planned attacks on Uspenivka by weeks or even months.

This will buy time for Ukrainian forces defending the area of Uska to reinforce the fortifications around the village, which is already guarded by two powerful strongpoints to the north and south of the village.

In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.