Military expert Tom Cooper made a small overview of the situation on the Ukrainian front in his blog. Present the text below.
The message received in the morning of October 23 shows several explosions at the entrance to the Sevastopol Port (well guarded). It has been confirmed that the MIM-23 Hawk anti-aircraft missile complexes have finally been armed with the Air Force of Ukraine. It is reported that at night from October 22 to 23, they knocked down two or three of the approximately 13 Chad's unmanned aerial vehicles and one X-59 missile.
MIM-23 deliveries took "only" for about a year. The reason: most rockets and launchers (produced 40 or more years ago) were in poor condition and needed significant recovery and repair. In addition, Spain, Taiwan and other suppliers used different versions. On the positive side: there should be many rockets and launchers M197 in warehouses, so their presence will probably greatly facilitate the task for Ukraine's Air Force over the next winter.
Bakhmut. South. To the east of the railway shaft in the area of Andriyivka, Ukrainians moved forward (about 1000 m) in the direction of Stodyadivka. Further south reported fierce battles by Zelenopillya: I assume that the 28th mechanized brigade tries to move south, to the rear of the Russian line on the east side of Kurdyumivka.
Avdiivka. Air Force (mainly cassette bombs of IPC/UMPC), the Russians continued the storm of “Height 230” yesterday, and further north, in the direction of the railway shaft northeast of the steppe. In fact, the whole territory from Krasnogorivka to the north to the top of the height of 230 is a "neutral land" (or "gray zone", according to the slang of modern social networks): under the control of Ukrainian artillery, but not under the control of the infantry of the Armed Forces, and the Russians are constantly "overturned" by additional troops for almost continuous attacks. Meanwhile, Ukrainian artillery has succeeded in making the Russians stop in front of the barrier structures, and then intensively changes the terrain where they stopped, so the Russians - regardless of whether the equipment or infantry - cannot move. But, unfortunately, this battle is expensive to Ukrainians; Many defensive positions of the Armed Forces were completely destroyed by multi -day Russian air strikes and artillery fire; And the combination of terrain and Russian preference in the air does not allow the Armed Forces to counteract the enemy's flank, for example, somewhere in the north.
There are many "good reasons" why Putin and "Moscow police" have decided to start this major offensive on this area of the front.
Robot-verbove-novoprokopivka. After rotation of their units in the area of the Armed Forces, it seems to come again, this time in the direction of Kopani. Obviously, using the morning fog and powerful artillery support, the infantry advanced deep into the long Russian defense line, which protects this village from the north and west. There were also new reports of Ukrainian attacks on the east of Novoprokopivka and towards the dominant heights further to the east.
Fog is a "ideal weather" for Ukrainian tactics of hostile positions: it makes drones and surveillance cameras in vain, hides troops from the enemy until they are exchanging the minefields and approaching hostile positions - at the same time, without interfering with Ukrainian artillery.
On the other hand, the reports of some units that have been in this front of the front in the last four to five months are not too pleasant. For example, the 47th mechanized brigade, apparently, suffered such casualties in the infantry that she had recently had to use as "infantry" units that usually work with PTRCs and mortars. In addition, the losses in the armored vehicles have reached the level that the ammunition from the advanced warehouses has to be transferred "manually". It is said that this explains the constant work of the Armed Forces on the creation of additional units: they not only serve as a strategic reserve, but also recently used to replace damaged units, enabling them to rest, reorganize and restore combat.
Unfortunately, some parts are "unlucky". For example, the 47th Mechanized Brigade was taken from the southern part of the Zaporizhzhya region to a "relatively calm" direction north of Avdiivka: it did not have time to be there, as they already got into the next big battle. (Yes, the history of this brigade begins to remind me of the history of the 17th tank in the first six to seven months of this war).
Dnipro. The Armed Forces, apparently, advanced far enough in the southeastern direction to block the road between the Cossack camps and the under steppe, somewhere between the zone and the sand. Apparently, this is done in order to "free up space" at the bridgehead for the deployment of heavy equipment. The Russians respond to air strikes and artillery shelling.
