Some units of the 110th Independent Mechanized Brigade were withdrawn from Avdiivka, Donetsk region for the first time in two years. Ivan Sekach, head of media relations for the 110th Independent Mechanized Brigade, spoke about the situation in an interview with NV Radio on February 13. . within the area.
NV: Can you tell us about the situation in Avdiivka and its surroundings?
Sekach: Heavy fighting continues around and within the city. The enemy is trying to capture Avdiivka by all means and has been doing so for two years. Nothing has changed and nothing has changed for us. That means we represent our city and we will continue to fight for it.
NV: What tactics will the enemy use? Is it something similar to what they did with Bahmut?
Sekach: I spent two years near Avdiivka, so I can’t speak for Bahmut. For example, you can explain how your tactics have evolved since September 2023.
Initially, these were large-scale armored attacks.They are [Russians] Using a huge number of armored vehicles, they tried to outflank and surround the city.47th [Separate Mechanized] As you can see on the map, a brigade arrived to reinforce our area and secure our flank from the north.
Also read: ISW reports Russian advance on Avdiivka: enemy at 700 meters from Ukraine’s main land line of communication
They lost a huge number of armored vehicles and personnel, [the Russians] switched to mass [assault] Tactics for groups of 20-30 people. They attacked in such a crowd without armored vehicles, because armored vehicles were in short supply and were more important to them than personnel. But our artillery, flanking forces, and deterrent forces destroyed this huge number. [of people].
Then they switched to another tactic. They had already abandoned the idea of besieging the city and began to invade it from other directions.They succeeded in some cases if we take [into account] industrial area.
They also tried to use tunnels to dig beneath our defenses and pop out into unexpected places. These were partially successful.
They also carried out so-called “fucking” operations there. They were climbing through the sewers, and after a while we managed to blow up the pipe.
Well, their tactics are as follows. We have expanded into low-density residential areas. They invade with a bunch of people in one armored vehicle, only to scatter in all directions. I mean, they have a huge number of people and they have such resources. They are scattered in different directions and do not understand each other’s positions. This causes some confusion.
Also read: Capturing Avdiivka offers little strategic advantage for Russia — Bloomberg
They don’t know who is in which house, their house or ours. This is how the battle continues.
They are constantly changing tactics and rely on air support. Of course, aviation is a big problem for city defense, as it can’t be reached until Russian jets bomb it.they drop these [glide] Drop bombs 10 to 15 kilometers away from the front lines. We don’t have man-portable air defense systems or other air defense systems to get these aircraft. They systematically destroy cities with these huge bombs.
They can use a huge number of aerial bombs to destroy everything in each region without knowing our exact location.
NV: Are these glide bombs?
Sekach: Not necessarily. There are both guided and unguided versions.They don’t think too much about it, because a bomb weighing 1 ton can be dropped at a distance of 50 meters [from the target] And it still has consequences. That is, use both.
NV: Do you know anything about the people the Russians threw into such groups without the support of armored vehicles? They used to have Wagner mercenaries, but who are they using for raids now?
Sekach: I can’t say for sure that Wagner was like that. [private military company] We worked systematically in our area. Maybe there were several people. But unlike Bahmut, where the Wagner group was specially developed, we have never seen anything like that here.
Also read: Ukraine may have sent 3rd Assault Brigade to rescue Avdiivka — Forbes
They have good fighters trained here. They keep these units in reserve and only use these units for some special tasks. Most of it can be said to be biomass. they don’t really care. They just throw in unison.
I don’t want to make any predictions, but such heavy losses, the huge price they are paying in trying to obtain this victory, will demoralize the Russians. They don’t realize it now. They intend to utilize this biomass as much as possible and as much as they know how, as they have orders from above to do everything possible to capture the city.
NV: If you could say so, did the reinforcements ease the situation to some extent?
Also read: Ukrainian Defense Forces prepare for Russian attack in Avdiivka
Sekach: By the way, I was asked about this. [on Feb. 13]. It was broadcast from the morning. I mentioned that some units of the 110th Independent Mechanized Brigade were withdrawn for rest and rotation. Enemy propaganda soon began reporting that the 110th Brigade was leaving the city and that “only days and hours remained in Avdiivka.” That’s not true.
The situation has improved a little.thanks to [Ukrainian reinforcements coming in]you can afford to withdraw your units for rest, so to speak.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine