ISW: Russia failed to penetrate Ukrainian lines

Russian military blogger Ildry in Ida wrote that Russian forces are struggling to emerge from the positional war.

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There has been little movement on the front lines in recent months, and although it may appear that Russia has the upper hand, it has not been able to make significant progress.

The war blogger says the Russians are unable to penetrate Ukrainian lines because Ukrainian forces attack all force concentrations larger than a battalion, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes.

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– The only solution

The blog claims that Ukrainian forces are pursuing Russian troop concentrations even behind the front lines.

Ukrainian forces will also continue to attack small Russian groups of one or two infantry companies and ten armored vehicles with drone strikes, to prevent the Russians from reaching Ukrainian defense lines.

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– The only current solution is to attack with small infantry divisions, from 10 to 20 soldiers, supported by artillery and armored vehicles, operating with fire at almost maximum distances or from hidden positions, as Ildre in Ed wrote about the problem of the Russians.

difficult

The Institute for the Study of War also singled out another military blogger with ties to the Kremlin who claims that Ukraine's technological advances have made it difficult for Russian forces to mass their forces without being detected.

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The research center stresses the need to improve communications along the front line so that the time between discovering the target and attacking it allows Russian forces to penetrate it.

Meanwhile, the War Institute wrote that Russian forces had made some progress around the town of Avdiivka.

– Russian forces recently advanced near Avdijivka while positional fighting in the area continued on January 23, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War.

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Getting out is harder

Newsweek wrote that several well-known pro-war Russian bloggers are making a greater effort on Telegram and claim that significant progress has been made. The Rybar channel wrote, among other things, about a breakthrough in the southern parts of the city.

It claims that the low-rise buildings in the south of Avdijivka facilitate Russian artillery and thus make advances easier than the large industrial buildings to the north.

The 13th also claims that Russian forces used a tactic called undermining. The method is to dig tunnels to reach enemy positions, then place large quantities of explosives directly underneath them.

– He didn't notice

However, the Institute for the Study of War report discourages all claims of major movements.

– A Russian source claimed that Russian forces advanced more than one kilometer north of Avdiivka, but the World War Institute did not observe visual confirmation of this claim, and the World War Institute wrote about the satellite images it studied.

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Avdizhievka has been a focus of fighting since Russian forces first entered Ukrainian territory in Crimea and Donbass in 2014. It lies on the outskirts of the Russian- and separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, and is a key political and logistical target for both sides.

If Russia captures Avdizhievka, it would put an end to significant Ukrainian control and potentially open a route to the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which has served as Ukraine's administrative center in the region.