Recently, the offensive and defensive battles in Avadiivka have come to an end. With a scale of 30,000 men, the Russian army adopted a north-south pincer offensive, launching an attack on Avadiivka from multiple directions such as southeast, due east, southwest, and northeast, leaving only a gap in the northwest direction to lure Ukrainian reinforcements into the "pocket formation". At the same time, the Russian army did not rush into the city to conduct street fighting, but attracted the main forces of the Ukrainian army to come to support.
This tactic has become the norm on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the Russian army attracts Ukrainian reinforcements into the encirclement, and then uses the firepower advantage to consume the technical equipment and ground combat personnel of the Ukrainian army, gradually depleting the living force of the Ukrainian army, while ensuring its own low **. In general, these tactics are an extension of the doctrine of artillery defense and ground offensive of the former Soviet Union, combined with the realities of the active ground forces of the Russian Federation. (The battlefield of Avadiivka, covered with artillery fire, is like hell on earth).
Since the Russian army launched the Battle of Avadiivka in early October, the Ukrainian army has sent 16 brigades and battalion-level units into the theater to carry out reinforcement tasks, but in the past two months, the Ukrainian army has lost more than 1 of them in the area30,000 people, at least 20,000 wounded and withdrew from the front. The Ukrainian army had to stop the loss and withdraw the main force of more than 6,000 people at night, making Avadiivka a de facto "empty city". With the exception of a few battalions still holding out on the outskirts of the city, the rest of the troops are retreating to the west of the city (Russian troops planted the flag of the Russian Federation in Maryinka, near Avadiivka).
As the Ukrainian army is no longer massing in the direction of Avadiivka, the Russian army is trying to "tie the pocket formation". Since December 11, the Russian 114th Motorized Brigade and the 1st Motorized Brigade of the Donetsk Militia are rapidly squeezing the Ukrainian front in an attempt to meet in the northwest direction of Avadiivka. On the battlefield in Avadiivka, the M2A2 combat vehicles of the Ukrainian army used 25-mm machine guns to shell the positions of the Russian army. This move provoked a strong response from the Russian army, making the fighting between the two sides extremely fierce.
In particular, in the area east of the stronghold of Stepov, a large-scale head-on exchange of fire broke out between the 47th Mechanized Brigade and the 116th Territorial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Army and the 15th and 132nd separate motorized infantry brigades of the Russian army. The M2A2 armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army frequently appeared in front of the positions of the Russian army, trying to use the advantage of firepower to suppress the offensive of the Russian army. The M2A2 infantry fighting vehicle of the Ukrainian army, without the coordination of the infantry, launched a charge at the Russian positions alone, trying to stop the Russian army's offensive by continuous **. However, these lone vehicles are in a very dangerous situation, as they lack effective support.
On the battlefield on the southern front, the morale of the Ukrainian army is already in jeopardy, and there is even a situation where a mutiny may occur at any time. In addition, the harsh winter weather has also brought serious material shortages and non-combat attrition problems to the Ukrainian army. Nevertheless, the Russian army is not without difficulties, as the adverse weather conditions pose a fair challenge for both sides. In this situation, Avadiivka has become a snowy country, and the results of street fighting are already obvious.
On the positions of the Russian army north of Avadiivka, a company-sized unit responsible for the offensive suffered heavy losses, and in just eight days their number was rapidly reduced from 70 to 14 people. Originally, their task was to be responsible for "piercing the mouth" and encircling a position in Avadiivka, but under the fierce resistance of the Ukrainian 47th Brigade, they have not been able to complete their tactical objectives so far, but have suffered heavy losses.
Normally, the troops in such a situation would be quickly replenished by reserves in the rear, but after this unit lost its offensive capability due to the current fierce fighting situation, the front commanders of the Russian army did not withdraw them, but let them hold their positions and wait for assistance. At the moment, Russian forces are attacking the Ukrainian army line north of Avadiivka from at least 7 directions, while the line of the Ukrainian 116th Brigade has begun to loosen. In addition, according to the latest footage, in order to reduce the number of personnel**, the Russian army has begun to widely use unmanned vehicles for some non-combat missions.
A number of unmanned transport vehicles have already been spotted being attacked by suicide drones of the Ukrainian army while transporting ammunition and supplies on the battlefield of Avadiivka. In the vicinity of the village of Krasnohalivka, north of Avadiivka, Ukraine's drone combat units used suicide drones to eliminate multiple infiltration groups of Russian troops, according to a release by the Ukrainian Agency. It can be seen that suicide drones became the main way for the Ukrainian army to deliver fire strikes.
At the same time, as fighting in Avadiivka intensified again, Ukrainian troops trying to flee the battlefield suffered a tragic fate when entering the artillery-controlled section of the Russian army, with most of the Ukrainian troops killed by Russian mines or drones before they could get out of the road. The only road in Avadiv** to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army has been turned into a "Yellow Springs Road", and the road is filled with destroyed Ukrainian army vehicles. Some analysts believe that the current situation in the north of Avadiivka is relatively deadlocked, but the Russian army in the south and east has shown a clear advantage.
The distance between the two fronts in the north and south is already less than 5 kilometers. Once the Ukrainian forces in the south and east are lost, the rest of the Ukrainian forces blocking the Russian forces in the city and northwest will be in danger of being surrounded. In this case, the Ukrainian army will face the encirclement and encirclement of the enemy army, and the situation is very serious. In this case, it will be difficult for the Ukrainian army to maintain a front against the Russian army, and the situation will become more complicated and dangerous.