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I am Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the five hundred tenth day of the war.
Day 510: Jul 18
Today there is a lot of news from the east.
Here, Russian forces opened a completely new axis of advance and decided to attack the territories that they had failed to advance into for more than 8 years. Krasnohorivka is a powerful stronghold located between Avdiivka and Marinka. Just like its sisters, it’s been prepared to withstand the most destructive frontal assaults, which is why Russians did not even try to attack it until today.
But before they could attack the stronghold itself, Russians needed to secure their flanks and eliminate all Ukrainian positions in the fields. The first target of their choice became a coal mine 1 km south of Krasnohorivka. The coal mine is located in the field, and it consists of 5 separate facilities. As you can notice, there are also a lot of trench networks on the territory of the mine, located precisely in the way of potential attacks.
In order to breach this defense, Russian forces made a huge bet on the element of surprise – Russians made sure not to conduct any intense reconnaissance-in-force operations to prevent Ukrainians from reinforcing this region. The first wave of attack consisted of at least 7 tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Judging by the water in the background, Russian forces advanced along the Lozova River, where they split into 2 groups and attacked the strong point from 2 sides. The job of the first group was to attack Ukrainian flanks and draw attention away from the second group, while the second group was trying to establish control over the biggest facility. Since it is also most fortified and surrounded by trenches, by establishing control over it, Ukrainians would be hypothetically unable to continue to defend their position.
Unfortunately for Russians, their assault units faced intense artillery fire. Moreover, the coal mine facilities were severely damaged and could not provide cover even after Russian assault units got close. Russians forces had to reinforce the units on the ground in order to compensate for the losses and fill the trenches with infantry so that Ukrainians do not have an opportunity to enter empty trenches.
As Russians got close, Ukrainians could not maintain the same intensity of artillery fire in order to avoid hitting their own troops. After seeing that level of artillery support necessarily decreased and that Russians also launched another wave of attack, Ukrainians stepped back to avoid incurring high losses. The moment Ukrainians withdrew, Ukrainian artillery crews unleased devastating fire.
Next, Ukrainians deployed their drone operators, whose main goal was to target the exposed Russian forces in trenches. Geolocated footage confirms that not many Russians managed to escape the falling on them grenades. After more or less clearing the trenches and making Russians seek shelter, Ukrainian drone operators could make more sophisticated maneuvers that require more time, such as dropping grenades in the holes of the buildings.
Overall, Russian forces established control over the coal mine facilities, but it came at a great cost. Russian forces reportedly lost half of the tanks and armored fighting vehicles that they had to withdraw mid-fight due to heavy shelling, sending more infantry instead. Judging by the footage pre-fight and post-fight, Russians used around 120 troops, and lost more than half of them as well. It is unlikely that Russians expected to incur such substantial losses for several buildings, which is why it is unlikely that Russians will proceed with an attack on Krasnohorivka. So, the idea of unexpectedly attacking the area, which they refrained from stepping into for years, did not really pay off.
