FILE PHOTO. A Russian T-72 tank near Avdeevka, Donetsk People's Republic, Russia.
Moscow's troops made new gains in Donbass, with most of the active combat witnessed along the Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line, which are villages northwest of the town of Avdeevka, liberated by the Russian military in mid-February. The line, stretching along a system of ponds and canals, has been breached by the Russian forces and is now largely under the control of the country's forces.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of Semenovka, a village located between Orlovka and Berdychi, with only the latter settlement among those located along the line not officially under Russian control. However, footage circulating online purports to show Russian troops hoisting the flag of their unit in Berdychi, and an official announcement is expected in a matter of days.
Comment: Next there is a video, but it is hard to insert and it can be more useful to comment on a screenshot from the video.
The main focus of the video is the small building in the middle of the image the one with a shadow and three windows. On top there is a unit flag, that also casts a shadow. Notice for instance:
a) The desolate surroundings of what used to be a village,
b) The zig-zag trenches, so dug to make close combat fighting more easy and protect against strikes
c) In the trenches there are small round holes, they make it possible to set up a gun position, survey different directions, while allowing movement in the trench by others.
d) To the right of the house in the middle there is one fresh crater, one of the same size is to the upper left. In the upper right there are two small craters. It is common on footage from the front to see the black circular spots, though a crater is not clearly visible.
e) There is literature, articles and blogs that gives estimates on the relationship between crater size and the kind, amount and settings on the explosive device use. One can compare the size of the craters in the image to the information in this article if translated:
A 20 kg land mine (122 mm projectile) makes a crater with a diameter of 2.5 meters, and a 5 kg land mine (76 mm projectile) makes a crater 1.5 meters in diameter.Behind the silence of the images of ruined building, bombed out almost leafless treelines, military hardware and crater littered fields, there are stories of pain and suffering.
The Russian military has broken through Ukrainian defensive lines near Ocheretino, a key Donbass town located some 10km northwest of Avdeevka and immediately to the north of the Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line. Ocheretino used to be a major logistics hub for the Ukrainian forces, as well as an important stronghold given its elevated location.
In Ukraine, the loss of Ocheretino has been widely blamed on the 115th Mechanized Brigade, which allegedly retreated from the town without receiving an order to do so. Other units, including the 47th Mechanized Brigade 'Magura', which is considered to be an elite unit packed with Western-supplied hardware, have reportedly been deployed to dislodge the Russian forces from Ocheretino without success to date.
'Tsar-grill' tanks
The concept of the so-called "Tsar-grill" tanks, featuring bulky anti-drone shells covering the whole vehicle, has apparently spread within the Russian military. Multiple vehicles armored in such fashion have been spotted operating near the Donbass city of Chasov Yar, footage circulating online shows.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the column was targeted by multiple FPV kamikaze drones, and, despite their numbers, only one of the vehicles was damaged.
Tanks with large "Tsar-grill" anti-drone shells debuted in mid-April near the town of Krasnogorovka, located to the west of Donetsk, which has seen intense combat over the past few weeks. The unsightly contraption has proven to be very effective in combat, providing solid protection from incoming FPV drones, which have become a growing threat to both sides in recent months. Last week, however, one of the original tanks hit a landmine near Krasnogorovka and was abandoned.
The damaged tank was ultimately towed away by an armored engineering vehicle for repairs and is expected to return to action shortly.
Cluster munitions
Both sides have actively used controversial cluster munitions for long-range strikes over the past week. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down six ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, which had recently been delivered to Ukraine by the US. The missiles were apparently packed with cluster warheads, with at least one of them spilling unexploded bomblets in a rural area near Simferopol, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Republic of Crimea.
While the Russian military had largely abstained from using cluster munitions early in the conflict, it changed its stance after Kiev's Western backers began delivering such weapons to Ukraine. Infrared drone footage circulating online purports to show a strike involving three RBK-500 cluster bombs, which spill their contents on Ukrainian positions at an unspecified location.
It was not immediately clear which projectile was used in the strike on the depot, which is believed to have been located more than 100km away from the front line in Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region.
Comment: This infographic from the Russian media Argumenty I Fakty that shows the effect on humans located near a single explosion caused by devices containing from one to 20 kg of TNT. Red means high danger to life, the narrow band of lighter red is less, orange indicates the possibility of minor injury and green is safe. However, if anyone recall having been close to a strong firecracker, this illustration is probably on the optimistic side, as green zone would still give quite some ringing in the ears, assuming no shrapnel and debris are flying around.