27 Jan: Russian Human Wave VS HIMARS Cluster Bombs. | War in Ukraine Explained

Today, there are a lot of important updates from the Kursk direction.

Here, Russians launched a continued effort in the southern part of the western sector, with Ukrainians turning old Russian fortifications against them, creating brutal kill zones for Russian armor. To avoid a drawn-out and costly clearing operation, Ukrainians even feigned a weakness, luring the surviving Russian soldiers into a small forest, where HIMARS missiles could rain down fire on them.

The goal of the Russian forces in this area is to take control of the village of Sverdlikovo, which could completely alter the dynamics of the Kursk Salient. As Sverdlikovo is a key position in the outer ring of Sudzha's defenses, taking control of the settlement would allow Russians to open up direct assaults on the main Ukrainian base of operations in Kursk.

Russians recently pushed Ukrainians out of Nizhny Klin after over a month of intense fighting, which then secured their right flank against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. The main advantage of the Russian forces in this area is the fact that they can accumulate enough forces to achieve numerical superiority, enabled by the many settlements and forests to the north that they now control. Additionally, the hardened Korenevo-Sudzha road allows the Russian mechanized units to move at full speed to dismount their infantry at Sverdlikovo in rapid succession.

Furthermore, if we take a look at the topographic map, we can see that the terrain elevation in the area around this road is relatively even, allowing Russian forces to move along it without the risk of driving into a crossfire. However, as Russian assault groups get closer to Ukrainian lines, they come within range of Ukrainians on the hillside to the south, where Ukrainians positioned ATGM positions and drone launching pads.

This area is also where Ukrainians, in the initial stages of the Kursk incursion, took control of the Russian defense lines meant to defend the border against Ukrainian assaults. This defense line consists of a vast network of trenches, bunkers, various underground facilities, and dragon's teeth anti-tank fortifications. Ukrainians later also moved engineering equipment into Kursk to further fortify the pre-existing defenses and reorient them to defend against Russian assaults from the north instead.

This allows Ukrainians to sit out Russian artillery shelling and aerial bombardments in relative safety without suffering significant losses during this time. The dragon's teeth fortifications also forced the Russians into a narrow chokepoint, which was already zeroed in by Ukrainian artillery, drones, and anti-tank systems, forming a killzone.

Combat footage reveals how Russian mechanized formations moved along the road towards the gap in the dragon's teeth fortifications. As Ukrainians started hitting these vehicles with artillery, drones, ATGMs, and landmines, the wrecks of destroyed armored vehicles quickly piled up, forcing the following vehicles to slow down to maneuver around them. This allowed the Ukrainian fire to become even more precise, as observation drones continued to correct their fire. Russians even tried sending engineering vehicles of their own to try and move the obstacles out of the way, but they only became a priority target for Ukrainians, as they continued to devastate any Russian assault group driving over the road.

As the Korenevo-Sudzha road quickly turned into a road of death, a number of Russian soldiers managed to survive and scatter into various tree lines and fields in the area. To avoid a lengthy clearing operation, Ukrainians lured and funneled these Russian survivors into a small forest near Sverdlikovo, which they had purposefully left lightly defended. As the Russian soldiers poured in, in the hopes of accumulating and continuing their assault, Ukrainians unleashed a devastating HIMARS barrage, carpet bombing the forest with cluster munitions in multiple strikes, eliminating the threat of the Russian infantry in one fell swoop.

Overall, the Ukrainians organized a defense in depth in anticipation of the Russian assaults, luring both Russian vehicles and infantry into brutal kill zones. The assaults toward Sverdlikovo continue to be one of the most massive Russian mechanized efforts in the Kursk direction and have resulted in hundreds of Russian soldiers killed and over three dozen destroyed armored vehicles littering the road, only further contributing to the ever-depleting Russian armored reserve.

[Randomdude-e]

The amount of losses on the russian side is crazy, and they just still keep going… its soo insane

[MrMacavity]

This is how you truly defeat "mass" as General Ben Hodges said. If the enemy uses wave-tactics; then you use anti-wave-tactics 👍

[AirB-]

On Jan 27th; Thank you RFU!
Thank you for your work as a team. I make this point today because the Ceremony at Auschwitz today is important for everyone.
For the people here in Poland, it is extremely appreciated to see so many people, Heads of States and casual citizens together, paying respect and listening to the important people on that day; the few survivors but not only.
It is important that no political speeches were made, but rather a time of respect.
Thank you to Mr. Andrzej Duda, Mr. O. Scholz, Mr. V. Zelenskyy, Mr. E. Macron, King Charles, Mr. J. Trudeau and all of the others present today.
The message today was also that Europe includes Ukraine, and is not a Continent of dictatorships.
Ruck Fuzzia - from Kato...

[AreaMan-etop]

Orcs hiding in the forest? Send in the Ents!

[bunnykittycat]

Excellent, and direct reporting. These tactical moves by Ukraine show the future potential for Ukraine and its brave intelligent people.

[AnimeFanatic]

Instead of taking more territory in that direction, it makes sense to allow Russian forces to break themselves against entrenched defensive positions.

[Newel]

mein Herz und Gedanken bei den Helden der Ukraine!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[bluskytoo]

these 5 minute reports are great! I cant spend 30 minutes on this, brief makes for a good briefing!

[DavorGlasnović]

Thanks again all the best from Croatia

[DominikGentener]

Kursk is now occupied by Ukraine for almost half a year - how embarrassing for Russia.

[Soeiz]

That'd be cool to see the territory gained/lost during the last time we saw the region. Thanks for all the updates !

[mummelmann-hdxu]

Danke für deine Berichte ..
Sie sind gut verständlich und informierte 🇩🇪🇧🇧

[AreaMan-etop]

Russian Soldier: "My instinct is to hide in this barrel, like the wily fish."

[Canoby]

Unfortunately for Russia, they still have not learned that dumb meatwaves will always ultimately fail

[SkySoldier-yu]

Thank you for the battlefield updates and overview. Slava Heroyam!

[ElectroCurmudgeon]

thank you for the continuing reports
Bless Ukraine and Bless the AFU
My heart is breaking for the peaceful people of Ukraine.
May Ukraine have all defense systems to protect itself possible

[MrPhotodoc]

Ukrainian defense tactics will become must reads for combat training in the years to come.

[jarrettwilson]

Love these reports on the battlefront. Thank you for your constant updates

[theAllNaut]

I wonder if Putin ever said "Oops"?

[HeatherT-yi]

God bless all of Ukraine and Her people. Love and prayers.