Russian forces are advancing in critical sectors in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, grinding toward the fortress city of Pokrovsk while also gradually encircling Ukrainian brigades south of Pokrovsk.
And in Terny, 60 miles north of Pokrovsk, the Russians are creeping along a row of villages abutting the Zherebets River, aiming for Zarichne. From Zarichne, the Russians could turn right and drive on the city of Lyman, itself part of a chain of strategic settlements including Siversk to the south.
To slow them down, a pair of Ukrainian army mechanized brigades—the 60th and 66th—has deployed anti-tank missiles.
On or around Sunday, a Russian assault group—apparently drawn from the 283rd Motor Rifle Regiment—rolled south from Russian positions on the northern edge of Terny, the second-to-last settlement on the road to Zarichne.
It didn’t get very far. Ukrainian anti-tank teams firing anti-tank missiles—American-made Javelins and Ukrainian-made Stugna-Ps—hit at least four Russian vehicles.
“The Russian equipment has been neutralized,” the 60th Mechanized Brigade reported. Worse for the Russians, those vehicles were probably packed with infantry. Russian casualties may have been in the dozens.
The mix of missiles the Ukrainians flung at the Russians is notable. The 35-pound Javelin ranges as far as 2.5 miles under infrared guidance. As evident in the 60th Mechanized Brigade’s video of the recent skirmish, a Javelin angles up then dives down on its target in order to strike where combat vehicles’ armor is thinnest: on top.
The 66-pound, laser-guided Stugna-P attacks head on, meaning it must punch through more armor to penetrate a vehicle. As consolation to its shooters, the Stugna-P has a remote-launch function. Crews can trigger a Stugna-P from a distance, helping them to avoid any return fire.
The 60th and 66th Mechanized Brigades are fortunate to have Javelins and Stugna-Ps, as their other equipment is unremarkable: Soviet-vintage T-64 tanks, BMP-1 fighting vehicles and 2S1 howitzers plus old American-made M-113 armored personnel carriers. A T-64 tried to hold off Russian attackers in northern Terny on Wednesday, but got swarmed by explosive drones.
The Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies expects the Russian attacks to intensify. “The goal is to assist in the elimination of the Siversk bridgehead held by the Ukrainian defense forces,” the group explained.
Right now, the main thing preventing the Russians from making much progress toward that goal is a bunch of Ukrainian missile teams from a pair of otherwise under-equipped brigades.
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