Russian firepower collapses as Ukrainians prepare massive counterattack

Today the biggest news is coming from the Orekhev direction. Here Ukrainian artillery delivered a devastating counter-battery barrage on Russian guns east of Orekhev. Geolocated footage shows Ukrainians detecting and destroying two S3 self-propelled artillery guns in the town of Hulyaipole. A follow-up strike with a fixed-wing strike drone ensured its destruction. Next, a Russian 2A65 howitzer was hit and destroyed as Ukrainians blew the shelter it was positioned in, along with the artillery shells stored on site.

Ukrainians did not limit themselves to artillery, however, as a large operating base for Russian soldiers was hit by devastating fire, collapsing a full half of the building in on itself. Ukrainians continued destroying one artillery piece after the other, with high-altitude reconnaissance drones directing the fire from above. Ukrainians even destroyed a T-55 tank that Russians had driven into a residential house for shelter. Continuous losses of artillery pieces to Ukrainian counter-battery fire are evident as Russians are being forced to use a hodgepot of tanks, self-propelled and towed artillery pieces instead of a unified artillery battery.

In the end, Ukrainians successfully took out one tank, one self-propelled gun, and at least 11 Russian-towed artillery pieces. This means that Ukrainians have completely taken out the entire Russian artillery battalion, stationed on the eastern flank of Orykhev. The Russian artillery was positioned exceptionally close to the front line, meant to provide far-reaching fire support to Russian units attempting to infiltrate and outflank Orykhev from the east. With this destruction, Russian units here are now temporarily without artillery fire support that would allow them to strike Ukrainian positions indirectly.

This lack of fire support has already opened a window that Ukrainians are taking full advantage of. Specifically, sources on the ground report that they have been able to successfully cut off Russian soldiers that had broken into the small town of Chervona Krenitsa. Russian soldiers here had recently staged a flag-planting operation but are already coming under heavy Ukrainian drone fire. It is important that the Russian presence here is eliminated because the town serves as a springboard for Russian infiltrators to cut off one of Orykhev's most important supply routes.

Additionally, Ukrainian forces have even been able to recapture the tactically important town of Khirka, which Russians were similarly using as a springboard to widen their eastern pincer from. In addition to the real tactical gains Ukrainians achieved by silencing the Russian artillery in the sector, a brand new evolution of artillery operations is being revealed. More and more we see Ukrainian artillery brigades gaining significant drone strike capabilities. Notably, these drones are not the usual FPV kamikaze or bomber drones necessarily, but fixed-wing strike drones that share or exceed the range of conventional Ukrainian tube artillery.

The reasoning is perfectly clear. Precision-guided artillery munitions are expensive and GPS jammable, and for an unguided round to land on target, it usually takes between 10 and 50 shells depending on the range and gun firing it. Instead, a fixed-wing drone used on the frontline can usually do this on the first try, making them excel at modern counter-battery fire, where Ukrainian artillery units are tasked with taking out Russian artillery.

They deliver enough of an explosive payload that takes these guns out of commission. Still, they lack the sheer firepower and rapid delivery of an artillery shell landing on or near a soft target, along with the vulnerability to bad weather and jamming, meaning that conventional big guns are still king at suppression and heavy destruction. The expanded use of strike drones by Ukrainian artillery units shows that they have evolved and modernized by expanding their toolkit, but are still ready and able to perform artillery's core tasks.

Overall, Ukraine's modernized artillery brigades have massively advanced their counter-battery capabilities by allowing the drone revolution to take hold in them as well. Through this, they have completely silenced the Russian big guns on the eastern flank of Urykhiv, allowing Ukrainian soldiers on the ground to take advantage and cut off the eastern Russian pincer. Now it is time for Ukrainians to counterattack, destroy the Russian advances, and take back control of the sector that has stood strong ever since the outbreak of the Russian invasion. Lastly, we are now expanding our Ukraine coverage, and we need your help.

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