Ukrainian Forces Have Driven the Russians Out of Toretsk, Are Winning At Pokrovsk

The Russians are retreating in key sectors of Donbas as exhaustion, inadequate troops, weapons and supplies have depleted their ability to stand against the resurgent Ukrainians. 

In addition to their organizational breakdowns, the Russians are suffering from Ukraine's drone superiority. JL

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Russian forces claimed control of Toretsk in early February. A month later, the Russians are retreating. A Ukrainian force anchored by the 12th Azov Brigade has pushed the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army out of much of the city. The Ukrainians reversed the tide in Toretsk (due) to Russian weariness and Ukrainian drone superiority. After losing more than half a million troops and 15,000 vehicles since February 2022, the Russian force in Ukraine is badly in need of rest and reset. The combination of exhaustion and relentless drone attacks also explains why the Russians are also retreating around Pokrovsk, 30 miles southeast of Toretsk

After eight months of brutal urban fighting characterized by the demolition of entire highrises, Russian forces claimed full control of the city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine in early February.

A month later, the Russians are retreating. A Ukrainian force anchored by the 12th Azov Brigade plus military police units and territorials, the latter the equivalent of the U.S. Army National Guard, has pushed the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army out of much of Toretsk, a mining city with a pre-war population of 30,000.

Ukrainian troops advanced on Druzhby Street in the center of Toretsk and on Budivelnykiv Street farther south, the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported Sunday.

How the Ukrainians have reversed the tide in Toretsk comes down to two factors: Russian weariness and Ukrainian drone superiority. After losing more than half a million troops and 15,000 vehicles since February 2022, the Russian force in Ukraine is badly in need of rest and reset. “All the signs are there” of Russian exhaustion, said Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate.

The Ukrainians are exhausted, too, of course; they’ve lost around 300,000 troops and have fewer to spare. But the Ukrainian armed forces have one key advantage in most sectors of the 800-mile front line threading through southern and eastern Ukraine into western Russia’s Kursk Oblast: their drones.

Autonomous hunter killers

With a few key exceptions, Ukrainian drones are higher quality and more resistant to enemy radio jamming than Russian drones. In Toretsk, the 12th Azov Brigade has begun using a new drone type, Seth, that flies lazy circles over the battlefield, scanning for the distinctive shapes of Russian vehicles. The propeller-driven Seth automatically homes in, striking with a warhead weighing around 10 pounds.

A Seth apparently can beam video back to its operators, but may not have to. It keeps station by way of a multi-channel GPS receiver that’s resistant to jamming. Its autonomy makes it hard to defeat—short of simply shooting it down.

Russian troops in Toretsk are reportedly attacking on motorcycles, instead of slower-moving tanks, in hopes of dodging Ukrainian drones

The dangerous combination of exhaustion of relentless drone attacks also explains why the Russians are also retreating around Pokrovsk, 30 miles southeast of Toretsk. But those dynamics cut both ways. In Kursk, it’s the Ukrainians who are starving for supplies, under attack by high-tech drones—and retreating.