A video has emerged of a fierce battle between the Russian and Ukrainian soldiers near Lysychansk, involving a wide variety of equipment such as artillery, tanks, armored personal carriers (APCs), combat aircraft, etc.
The video was first released by the Military Chronicle Telegram channel and has been shared widely by pro-Russian social media accounts. EurAsian Times cannot authenticate the veracity of the video.
According to Military Chronicle, the battle ensued after Ukrainian forces conducted a surprise assault to drive out the forces of the People’s Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) from the trenches created along the T-13-02 highway between the villages of Berestove and Verkhn’okam’yanka.
This highway runs along the border between Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the contact line between the Russian and Ukrainian forces.
As of writing this article, Ukrainian forces already control Berestove, according to the Institute for Study of War’s (ISW’s) interactive map of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It appears the Ukrainian forces were trying to break through Russian lines to take control of the T-13-02 highway up to the settlement of Verkhn’okam’yanka, which is only around 10 kilometers southwest of Lysychansk, one of the major cities of Luhansk Oblast.
After a successful counter-offensive in Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces seem to be trying to advance in the Luhansk region.
In late September, Ukrainian armed forces recaptured a village called Bilohorivka, occupied by the Russian troops only recently in July after months of hard-fought battles. Bilohorivka is also roughly 10 kilometers northwest of Lysychansk.
?Ukrainian forces have liberated the village of Bilohorivka, in the Donetsk region. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are getting closer to Lysychans'k. pic.twitter.com/dGjJnAArGK
— ZMiST (@ZMiST_Ua) September 19, 2022
This would suggest a multi-pronged assault by the Ukrainian forces from northwest and southwest directions on the Russian-occupied Luhansk region.
Nevertheless, the latest footage of the battle along the T-13-02 highway suggests the Ukrainian military is far from realizing its aims.
Even if it does, the Russian forces will have inflicted severe damage on the Ukrainian forces fighting them, similar to what happened in Kherson Oblast before the Russian troops withdrew from the Dnipro River’s right (west) bank to the left (eastern) bank.
Russian Aircraft & Artillery Repel Ukrainian Attack
The 12-minute-long video filmed by a Russian drone begins with a group of Ukrainian troops mounted on the MT-LB multi-purpose armored vehicle moving toward the Russian trenches.
The vehicle then comes to a halt, and the Ukrainian soldiers jump off the vehicle to advance further toward Russian positions on foot. After a while, the Ukrainian soldiers made inroads into the trenches, following which close combat ensued between the Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Shortly after this, the video features two Su-25 attack aircraft carrying out a series of bombardments purportedly on Ukrainian soldiers.
Since the entire movement of the Ukrainian forces was monitored by a Russian drone, it must have been easy to track the Ukrainian soldiers and relay target information for strikes using aircraft and artillery.
After three minutes and 30 seconds, the video shows certain trenches occupied by Ukrainian soldiers followed by a series of bombardments purportedly carried out on these trenches by the Su-25 attack aircraft using the Soviet-era 122mm S-13 unguided rockets.
Russian Su-25 aircraft firing S-13 rockets in Ukraine. https://t.co/3iA6VXUu4v pic.twitter.com/hWxsNSEg4g
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 3, 2022
These bombardments continue for around 21 seconds in the video, after which several Ukrainian soldiers are shown dead inside the trenches, marking the total defeat of the Ukrainian assault team. A medical team is also sent in to evacuate the wounded soldiers.
However, this was only the first assault team. After the evacuation, another group of Ukrainian soldiers move in toward the Russian positions, which again manages to gain a foothold in the Russian trenches, and ends up being bombarded again, only this time by the Russian artillery.
The Russian forces reportedly used the 152-mm 2A36 Giatsint-B and D-20 howitzers for strikes, which also destroyed the logistics center operated by the Ukrainian forces to support their offensive.
The aftermath of these artillery strikes was similar to that of the air strikes carried out by Su-25s, comprising several dead Ukrainian soldiers inside trenches.
Russian tanks are also seen firing at the light armored vehicles brought in by Ukrainian soldiers.
After suffering huge losses and two assault attempts, the Ukrainian forces withdrew into the forests, presumably to call it a day, and fell back to their original positions. However, the Russian drones continued to monitor them even as they moved under the canopy of the trees.
The Russians decided to deliver their final blow to Ukrainian forces as they were retreating and used a Su-34 bomber.
The Su-34 is shown in the video purportedly dropping ODAB-500 thermobaric bombs from a low altitude on Ukrainian forces inside the forest.
With this, the video finally ends, marking a defeat for the Ukrainian forces.
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