Russia’s major offensive on Donetsk on Tuesday, which Vladimir Putin called a “new offensive”, is failing, a Ukrainian commander claims, as Moscow’s forces suffer heavy casualties, The Guardian reports.

The commander of the 128th separate mountain assault brigade of Ukraine, Colonel Dmytro Lysyulk, said that the Russian army will not be able to break through to the city of Avdiyivka, where Russia’s biggest offensive is taking place in recent months.

He said sending a large military convoy into battle, a tactic used when Russian forces tried to capture Kyiv last year and the eastern city of Vugledar in February, would not work.

“The Russians should have realized this a long time ago,” said Lysyuk. “They have not achieved any tactical success.”

He added that the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, General Valery Gerasimov, is responsible. Gerasimov underestimated Ukraine’s forces in Avdiivka, which has been on the front line since 2014, when Moscow seized the neighboring city of Donetsk.

“It was an intelligence failure,” Lysyuk said.

At least three Russian battalions, each backed by an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers, launched the attack at dawn on Tuesday. Footage from a drone showed a line of military equipment advancing. Fierce battles have been going on since then. Russia bombarded the city with continuous artillery fire and airstrikes.

The Ukrainian military says that Moscow’s goal is to surround Avdiivka, but so far the attackers have made modest progress. The Russian 25th Combined Arms Army was advancing from the south and north. He captured the nearby village of Berdychi and approached the 150-meter-high terricon near the city’s coke chemical plant.

The Russians suffered serious losses. During the first day, at least 36 Russian tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed. According to the Kyiv Post, the figure increased to 102 lost tanks and 183 armored vehicles, 2,840 soldiers were killed.

And analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday that Russian forces had suffered a series of “setbacks” in their assault on the front-line town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk region.

Ukrainian forces in the area continued to repel Russian attacks and used minefields to impede the Russian advance on the city, ISW reported.

“It’s very difficult to move forward”

While he believes the major assault on the city of Avdiyivka, involving thousands of Russian troops and armored vehicles, has failed, the senior officer admitted that Kyiv’s efforts to push south have proved “difficult”.

He admitted that the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country, where the 128th brigade is fighting, was difficult.

“It’s very difficult to move forward,” he admitted. There were huge obstacles, he said.

Among them are numerous minefields installed by Russia over the past 18 months; an extensive network of defensive trenches dug in three lines; and kamikaze drones and FPV drones.

The colonel noted that Ukraine has adapted its tactics. Instead of sending in heavy armored vehicles that were vulnerable to air attacks, his brigade used “small groups” that were harder to detect. They involved eight soldiers, plus an evacuation team of 12 men, backed up with precision firearms.

The group stormed enemy positions, sometimes destroying up to 40 Russians. “We do 100-500 meters a day,” he said.

Since the beginning of June, Kyiv has regained a small part of the territory south of the Ukrainian-controlled village of Orihiv in Zaporozhye. Lisiuk noted that his forces were able to advance and capture the occupied Tokmak, a key logistics and railway hub, as well as the city of Melitopol.

He declined to say when that might happen. “It is difficult to predict. I would like to see Tokmak this year. We are creating conditions for future actions,” he said.

The Ukrainian colonel reported that his brigade received Western anti-tank weapons, mortars and night vision devices. It has not yet received modern battle tanks.

Lisiuk noted that his team is ready for the cold season. “The situation is difficult, but not critical. We know what we have to do,” he said.