Russia has a very clear ambition in its war against Ukraine: grabing a maximum of square kilometers on its territory so that, once at the negotiation table for a possible ceasefire, Moscow can afford to put kyiv concerning its requirements. For the time being, the Russian army fails to operate on a major rocking and its troops continue to die on the front for marginal territorial gains.
This was still the case on April 8, 2025, in the south of the Donetsk Oblast (eastern Ukraine), when four Russian assault groups were defeated by Ukrainian drones defending an area located a few kilometers west of the city of Kourakhove, controlled by the Russians. It’s the famous 72e Ukrainian mechanized brigade which forced the Russian army to retreat, reports the American online magazine Forbes. According to the author David Ax, this operation was a fiasco for the Russian soldiers who were taken back and massacred.
An ever more deadly war
The Russian army had a perfectly established plan. The operational group of “Khortytsia” troops, supervising several brigades, said on the Telegram social network that the objective of the Russian offensive was “To unravel (or to destroy) the Ukrainian defense and to seize the localities of Bohdanivka, Troïske and Horikhove”.
Ukrainian Soldiers from the 137th Marine Battalion Repel Another Russian Offensive. pic.twitter.com/chuatru3df
– Challenger tank in Ukraine🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@Challengerinua) April 11, 2025
But nothing happened as planned for attackers and infantry units assisted by armored vehicles and tanks have seen a real drone wall stand in front of them. Flying machines first neutralized Russian vehicles, before tracking down passengers and crew members who were trying to escape. Some Russian soldiers were killed, others, seriously injured, died of hemorrhage.
The Observer Tatarigami, founder of the Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight, commented on this vast defense of the Ukrainian army on the social network X (formerly Twitter) and declared that he was not surprised by his result.
“The situation of Ukrainian troops remains complicated and the general balance is in favor of Russia. That said, despite the recent efforts of Russia to present the position of Ukraine as disastrous, it has so far failed to take advantage of the situation on the operational or strategic level within Ukraine “,, he believes, confirming a little more military paralysis on the front in Ukraine.
