Ukrainian infantry teams taking advantage of a recent crash in Starlink communications service to Russian units have launched opportunistic assaults in three sectors of the Russo-Ukrainian War’s 1,100-kilometer (684-mile) front, putting Russian forces to flight and capturing a reported 11 villages, according to Ukrainian field and official reports made public on Monday.
Ukrainian assault infantry, armored transport and drone units operating in combined arms attack teams scored their biggest gains in assaults over the weekend in the Zaporizhzhia sector, liberating 5 villages across a 30-kilometer (19-mile) front near the city of Hulyaipole.
The attacks forced Russian units in the area to retreat across the tactically important Haichur River, and re-established Ukrainian control in territory held by Russian forces since late summer.
Ukrainian news reports and even some unit information feeds reported veteran Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) combat formations concentrated in the sector in early February to carry out the attacks against a line of Zaporizhzhia villages between the frontline cities of Hulyaipole and Pokrovsk. By Saturday, even Ukrainian mainstream news was reporting the AFU’s elite 82nd and 95th Air Assault Brigades, along with the veteran 33rd and 475th Assault Infantry Regiments, were leading the attacks.
The 225th Regiment confirmed on Sunday it was in combat in the Hulyaipole sector, reporting on the unit Telegram channel its assault squads had cleared Russian forces out of fortifications around two villages late last week, and claiming 40 Russian troops were killed by 225 fighters in one day of combat near Hulyaipole. Kyiv Post could not confirm that claim independently.
Russian military news platforms additionally reported the AFU’s elite 210th and 225th Assault Regiments participated in the assaults along with the 24th Assault Regiment “Aidar.”
Ukrainian assault groups using, among other equipment, US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks and Swedish CV-90 infantry assault vehicles were able to “quickly clear” Russian troops from the five settlements, Euromaidan reported.
Both Russian and Ukrainian sources confirmed that the US company SpaceX’s move to disable black and gray market Starlink communications terminals in Russia and Ukraine substantially aided the AFU attacks. The denial of Starlink service left Russian units in the Ukrainian attack zone largely unable to exchange digital data and reliant on easily jammed VHF radio for combat intelligence and orders.
The shutdown also disabled Russian-operated Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), forcing Russian logistics troops to turn to manned automobiles, motorcycles or quad-cycle vehicles highly vulnerable to drone strikes to deliver food and ammunition for frontline troops, and to evacuate casualties.
Villages confirmed recaptured by Ukrainian forces by Monday, per Ukrainian battle reports on fighting around Hulyaipole, included the settlements Vidradne, Verbove, Prydorozhnie and Ternuvate. Russian milbloggers reported fighting still was in progress around the village of Verbove.
Similar but smaller Ukrainian advances were reported elsewhere on the front as well, including near a village called Mahdalynivka near the Zaporizhzhia-Vasylivka highway, was confirmed by drone video published by 33rd Assault Regiment. AFU ground gains also were reported in the Kharkiv sector near the town Sviatohirsk, and in the Donetsk sector near the city Chasiv Yar.
Independent analysts said the Ukrainian terrain gains in some five days of fighting – effectively reversing Russian advances in that sector managed over the three to four months at the price of heavy losses – were a clear victory for Kyiv’s forces.
Konrad Muzyka, Director of the Rochan Consulting security research group, said that the Ukrainian advances, though local, were significant, and that the Ukrainian objective was strengthening defensive positions.
“Recent Ukrainian counterattacks along the Hulyaipole axis confirm that Russian force density in certain sectors – including operationally significant ones – remains relatively low, enabling well-coordinated Ukrainian assaults to achieve rapid, localized territorial gains,” Muzyka said in a Feb. 14 analysis published on X.
“What we are witnessing now is a clear Ukrainian tactical success and a notable Russian setback. Russian forces were unable to translate their earlier operational achievement – crossing the Haichur River into a durable foothold. Equally significant was their apparent failure to anticipate and absorb the Ukrainian counterstroke, which reversed more than a month of Russian advances in the area,” Muzyka said.
French military analyst Clément Molin in a Sunday overview of Ukrainian operations said the Ukrainian attacks were widely separated and not a counteroffensive, but “a clearing operation” with the objective of establishing stronger defensive positions before a probable Russian spring offensive kicks off. “Ukraine isn’t trying to break through – it’s racing to dig in,” Molin said.
Analysis published by the independent OSINT research group DeepState on Monday confirmed that Ukrainian forces had advanced in the Hulyaipole and other sectors and established limited control, but cautioned the situation was fluid and that Ukraine’s hold on the captured villages was not yet consolidated.
Russia’s Defense Ministry over the weekend confirmed Ukrainian forces had “initiated offensive operations” in the Hulyaipole sector, attacking several villages separated across a 60-kilometer (37-mile) front.
Speaking on Russia’s state-run Rossiya-1 television channel, military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny said Russian defenses had repelled all attacks and that “on none of the sections did the AFU manage to achieve a stable advance or consolidate in the occupied positions, and their offensive potential has already been largely exhausted.” Other sources, including pro-Moscow milbloggers, contradicted that official Kremlin line.
Mikhail Zvinchuk, author of the highly popular in Russia war blog Rybar, to his 1.55 million followers, said: “A difficult situation is developing… Earlier there were raiding operations, now the enemy is acting more massively, and locals report a high concentration of [Ukrainian] artillery. On the western flank, there are clashes on the banks of the Haichur River. The enemy was able to enter the territory of Ternove, Kosivtseve and Pryluky, and also broke through to the outskirts of Olenokostiantynivka. The enemy was not able to completely dislodge Russian units from these settlements [but] the battles are heavy and protracted.”
The strongly pro-Kremlin channel Tsargrad, a popular information platform operated by the Russian nationalist billionaire businessman and media mogul Konstantin Malofeev, in a Sunday report on Ukrainian attacks in the Zaporizhzhia sector, conceded Kyiv’s forces had made gains and blamed top army leadership for downplaying Ukrainian fighting capacity, but stoutly argued Russia was stronger and would prevail.
“The situation in the ‘East’ grouping zone is difficult. The enemy is trying to get into the gaps between our strong points under the cover of fog, taking advantage of the fact that the coordination between units has deteriorated,” the report said in part. “Today we are paying for these pictures [inaccurate reports to the Kremlin] with blood and territory. However, despite the enemy’s advantage in communications, there is no catastrophe.”