The Russian army lost huge numbers of armored vehicles and soldiers on the Avdiiv front, where it eventually attacked with infantry without the support of mechanized forces, the British Ministry of Defense said in an assessment on Saturday.

What British military experts say:

• Over the past three weeks, during the attacks on Avdiivka in Donbas, Russia probably lost about 200 units of armored vehicles.
• This is probably due to the combination of the effectiveness of modern Ukrainian hand-held anti-tank weapons, mines, ammunition launched from unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and high-precision artillery systems.
• In response to this situation, it is very likely that the Russian troops switched to conducting an assault of unequipped infantry in this sector. Ukrainian forces faced similar tactical challenges this summer when they were an offensive force.
• Like previous Russian offensives, attacks on Avdiivka often involved advancing over open terrain, resulting in heavy casualties. Russia has likely lost several thousand soldiers around the city since early October 2023.
• The Russian leadership continues to demonstrate that it is ready to put up with large losses of personnel for minor territorial gains.

A video posted by the Ukrainian 53rd Brigade on Telegram shows Russian forces on the front line in Avdiivka being hit with ammunition dropped from drones or kamikaze drones.

Other images appearing on social media also show the damage suffered by Putin’s forces during the offensive in this direction.

Putin’s army wants to capture the Avdiiv coke plant

Russian forces, who have been focused for weeks on capturing the key city of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine, now intend to capture its huge coke plant, the city’s mayor said on Friday.

The General Staff of Ukraine announced in a briefing published on Friday evening that its forces repelled 17 attacks on and around Avdiivka.

Mayor Vitaly Barabash, speaking on national television, said the interception of Russian transmissions showed that Moscow was now trying to seize the city’s huge coke plant.

“They have a new target, and it’s a coke plant. They must win it. Period,” said Barabash.

“We understand that the (new) third wave of attacks will start any day when the ground dries up and they can advance. They are engaged in the accumulation of forces. We see and hear it,” added the mayor of Avdiivka.

Ukrainian military analysts say that the prolonged assault on Avdiyivka will have more political than military significance and can only be a propaganda object for Moscow.

A “catastrophic” battle for the Russian army

The situation on the front around the city of Avdiyivka shows the inability of the Russian military command to learn from the mistakes it has made since the beginning of the war on the battlefield, says the analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (IWV). on Thursday

According to ISW analysts, Avdiyivka is a microcosm of the failure of the Russian General Staff to absorb and disseminate the lessons learned by Russian forces during the failed offensives against Ukraine.

ISW mentioned “equally catastrophic” attacks by Russian infantry using armored vehicles, in particular, last winter’s offensive in western Donetsk region.

The march of the Russians to the well-fortified village of Vugledar resulted in significant losses of equipment and personnel.

According to ISW, Russian forces have carried out such attacks in several areas of the Ukrainian front since the beginning of the war in February 2022.

The current offensive near Avdiivka has also led to heavy losses among Russian troops, which indicates a lack of strategic adaptation.

The fact that two very different groupings of forces engaged in equally ineffective operations suggests that the Russian military command is trying to learn and disseminate lessons in the theater of war, analysts at a US think tank say.