Russians Suffer 1300 Losses As Ukraine Pokrovsk Counterattack Accelerates

As the attempted - and by many accounts, accidental or opportunistic - Russian infiltration north of Pokrovsk is being choked off and eliminated by Ukrainian forces, the casualty figures are becoming clearer and more gruesome for the Kremlin. 

The point of Ukrainian strategy at this stage is to maintain flexibility in order to take advantage of the potential for quick victories as they present themselves - but also to prevent Russian breakthroughs. Which is exactly what they have accomplished at Pokrovsk. But the even larger story may be that the Russians are no longer capable of breakthroughs, even when they appear, because they are a shadow of the army that invaded in 2022 and are unable to mount serious offensive threats. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

A powerful Ukrainian force, including 10 brigades anchored by the new 1st Azov Corps, is rolling up the Russian 51st Combined Arms Army’s rapidly shrinking salient northeast of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian attacks have killed, wounded or captured 1,300 Russians in 12 days. Ukraine redeployed elements from the 79th and 82nd Air Assault Brigades, 1st and 425th Assault Regiments, 25th Assault Battalion, the 92nd Assault Brigade, 32nd and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, 38th Marine Brigade, 14th National Guard Brigade and the Birds of Magyar drone brigade. Ukrainian police, special operators, Leopard 1A5 tanks and gun-armed ground robots also joined the counterattack. “Stabilization operations are ongoing.” 

A powerful Ukrainian force, including some or all of around 10 brigades anchored by the new 1st Azov Corps, is rolling up the Russian 51st Combined Arms Army’s nine-mile-deep—but rapidly shrinking—salient northeast of Pokrovsk. 

Ukrainian attacks have reportedly killed, wounded or captured nearly 1,300 Russians in 12 days. The Russian penetration of Ukrainian lines northeast of Pokrovsk last week was bigger and more dangerous than some analysts initially concluded.

We know this because we know what it took for Ukrainian forces to block further Russian advances—and then begin rolling back the incursion this week. It took all or some of around 10 brigades and regiments, including several fighting under the banner of the Ukrainian national guard’s new 1st Azov Corps.

Ukraine redeployed elements from the 79th and 82nd Air Assault Brigades, 1st and 425th Assault Regiments, 25th Assault Battalion, 2nd Battalion of the 92nd Assault Brigade, 32nd and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, 38th Marine Brigade, 14th National Guard Brigade and the Birds of Magyar drone brigade.

Ukrainian police, special operators, Leopard 1A5 tanks and a few gun-armed ground robots  also joined the counterattack.

“Stabilization operations … are ongoing,” the 1st Azov Corps reported Friday. Russian casualties in the 1st Azov Corps’ sector have, since Aug. 5, totaled 910 killed, 335 wounded and 37 captured, the Ukrainian general staff announced Sunday.

The Russian penetration was bigger and more dangerous than some analysts initially concluded. “Let’s start by describing what this absolutely is not: a breakthrough,” U.S. analyst Andrew Perpetua asserted on Aug. 12. “There isn’t an advance. The reality is that there isn’t a coherent front line.”

It’s true that the front line isn’t really a line anymore—it’s more a broad and porous zone of scattered infantry positions. But we know what it took for Ukrainian forces to block further Russian advances north of Pokrovsk toward the village of Dobropillya. It took a lot.