Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) wounded and killed more than 900 Russian soldiers in a day and a half during an attempted assault along a 100-kilometer front in the Zaporizhzhia direction, USF commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said.
“A fog trap, or the irony of war…” Brovdi wrote on Telegram.
He revealed that the sudden change in weather on March 17-18 in the three most acute areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia directions (Dobropillya, Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole sections), combined with the rushed start of Russia’s spring-summer campaign, forced Kremlin forces to resume attacks “under the veil of the long-awaited bad weather.”
The offensive stretched from Rodynske to Hulyaipole, with infiltrated Russian assault groups launching the attack late on March 16 during drizzle. USF fighters responded with drones, wounding and killing over a hundred soldiers.
At dawn on March 17, Russian forces renewed their offensive using infantry, motorcycles, armor, and horses across a dozen areas. That day, USF eliminated 292 Russian soldiers and wounded 221 more.
Despite dense fog on March 18, another 141 were killed and 136 wounded.
Brovdi said: “900 in a day and a half is a somewhat new record… The enemy did not take a single area on this section. But overall losses are much higher. Let’s hold our ground, there will be a heavy and prolonged struggle for the rest of March.”
Separately, RBC-Ukraine, citing soldiers of the 32nd Separate Mechanized Steel Brigade, reported that Russian forces attempted a breakthrough west of Pokrovsk along the E-50 highway.
Using 14 motorcycles and two Niva cars, they tried to cross into Hryshyne. Strike drones intercepted the column, causing panic among storm troopers, and infantry finished off survivors in gun battles.
The assault ended in total elimination of the attackers, with 26 Russian soldiers, 14 motorcycles, and two cars destroyed.
Russia’s planned spring offensive has so far failed, with Ukrainian forces preventing large-scale breakthroughs and destroying significant Russian equipment, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.
Zelensky told journalists Russian troops have been unable to advance with armored vehicles and are relying on small infiltration groups and constant assaults along parts of the front line.
“The spring campaign, as it had been planned, drowned in this spring for the Russians; they were unable to advance,” he said. “They are carrying out offensive actions, but they are all the same. They cannot break through anywhere - we are burning their equipment.”
Ukrainian forces have continued to repel attacks across multiple sections of the front, preventing Moscow from launching a major operation.
Zelensky said Russian operational maps reveal Moscow’s long-term territorial ambitions, showing the Kremlin has no plans to end the war.
“This shows that they definitely have no thoughts about stopping the war… Why do we react to the words of one leader or another that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants to end the war? He does not want to,” Zelensky said.