To my understanding they exclude the residents of the illegally annexed oblasts (except Crimea), while for example a volunteer from Russia proper who died in 2022 in the ranks of e.g. the “Somalia” Battalion would be included. I think so because Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts don’t have any deaths recorded in the Mediazona map and clearly they don’t keep track of the KIAs from those regions. Servicemen from Russia proper who died in the ranks of former D/LPR units are included, however (after all, as of January 2023 they are regular units in every respect), and in their register of fallen officers there are also officers from the 1st and 2nd Corps, in fact. That said, today the vast majority of the servicemen of the 1st and 2nd Corps are from Russia proper anyway. Numerous soldiers of the 114th Motorized Brigade, from the obituaries or MIA notices, seem to come from Krasnoyarsk and Primorsky Krais and Tatarstan, as well as from other regions of Russia proper.

I am going to report some interviews of Ukrainian soldiers that I read/watched between yesterday and today that I found interesting to share.

Interview with the commander and a soldier from the 26th Separate Rifle Battalion. I will give a brief summary - those who want to can watch/read the interviews. Let’s remember that this battalion fought for a long time in the Vuhledar sector under the command of the 68th Jager Brigade and in October was transferred under the command of the 47th Mechanized Brigade.

The battalion arrived in Avdiivka in the period following the beginning of the offensive. They were sent to the front line in the area near the Coke Plant after the Russians had already advanced from Krasnohorivka and occupied the “Terrikon”. There wasn’t any prepared position and they had to dig in themselves. The initial period was difficult; the Russians were shelling Ukrainian positions with long-range artillery and making heavy use of FPV drones and “resets” (Ukrainian/Russian term for drones launching grenades from above). After that, Russian assault troops stormed the positions, finishing off the wounded. The battalion, however, adapted to the challenges: it managed to create decent positions by digging in and reduced enemy drone actions by making extensive use of EW systems (both fixed and portable). At that point the Russians, in order to attack their positions effectively, had to approach the defenders making visual contact with them. It’s said that when there were small arms firefights, the Ukrainians always had the upper hand and the Russians had to withdraw and call in heavy fire support.

I found the tactics used by the Russians extremely reminiscent of Bakhmut. The Russians would continuously send assault teams (8/10/12 personnel) composed of badly trained men in order to probe the Ukrainian defenses, from every direction, until they found a weak point where they recorded greater success. At that point the position was hammered with artillery and KABs, after which the pros (Spetsnazs, scouts, generally well-trained soldiers) would arrive. When they encountered a strong Ukrainian position, the priority was to get a foothold as close as possible, where they would dig in, entrench and take cover while waiting for reinforcements and I assume, place support weapons such as automatic grenade launchers, small caliber mortars and ATGMs.

It’s mentioned that Ukrainian artillery was active and no great shells hunger was detected - in fact, it was instrumental in destroying entire Russian assault teams (probably the shells allocation for Avdiivka had the highest priority, I imagine). The Bradleys were extremely useful in supporting the infantry during the defense and they did not suffer from any shortage of ammos, although there might be in the future. The 26th Rifle Battalion left Coke Plant on February 15, the day before the last unit to leave the fortress (the 25th Assault Battalion of the 47th Mech Brigade). They said there were falling KABs all the time and even in the underground shelters the walls were shaking, dust was rising, even coffee on the table was completely coming out of the glass. Some underground shelters were flooded because of broken pipes as a result of the bombings. In any case, the Coke Plant was holding out and they were forced to abandon it because the Russians were close to having direct fire control over the only entrance/exit road, which was already being continuously hit by artillery. The soldier laments that Russian vehicles seemed endless: despite having destroyed many of them one of the last days before abandoning the Coke Plant, even more appeared the following day.

Another soldier from the 26th Rifle Battalion denied rumors of 800+ Ukrainian MIAs/POWs during the retreat from the city, saying that there were probably about a thousand defenders inside the city in total (I guess excluding the Coke Plant etc). In general, to what I gathered, the Ukrainians had very heavy losses in the days of urban fighting and other losses in the withdrawal phase, but not to the extent of those numbers, especially when it comes to POWs. There were certainly several dozen and dozens of prisoners, but not as many as those rumors stated. From a Russian Telegram channel I saw a video showing 20 POWs from the 425th Separate Assault Battalion “Skala” - I think the video is legit and that it was perhaps the largest such event. Then there are several videos with 3/4/5 prisoners, especially from the 110th Mech Brigade, but nothing out of the ordinary. One video I saw shows a POW from the 23rd Mech Brigade, claiming that he is part of the brigade’s assault detachment (a pseudo penal company composed of soldiers guilty of various violations, which do seem to exist including per Ukrainian sources) and they had been sent to the city in the last few days in order to cover the retreat of the other units. As usual, interviews of prisoners are to be taken with a grain of salt, although it seems plausible to me. But in any case, there is no evidence to confirm certain figures that had come out last week. Last interview in the post below!

In this case we are with the commander of the fire support company of the “Svoboda” Battalion, part of the “Rubizh” Brigade of the National Guard (this brigade is also part of the Offensive Guard). Before the invasion he was a policeman and retired a few months before February 2022. He’s from near Kyiv. On the same morning of the invasion he took to the streets to find weapons and people like him willing to fight and joined the local DFTG. During the following months he was sent abroad to receive actual training, and there he was specialized as an anti-tank operator, being trained in the use of Javelins. He was supposed to remain an instructor, but by his own will he chose to go to the front, joining the “Svoboda” Battalion, made up mostly of members of the party with the same name, but in most cases with no military experience (construction workers, lawyers, etc.), where he led the battalion’s new anti-tank platoon, which until then had no anti-tank units and was in serious trouble when enemy tanks were sighted.

During June and July 2023 there were numerous armored assaults against their positions. Let’s remember that his brigade is defending the central part of the Siversk salient (the area around Spirne), and the assaults were (and are) the work of units from the Russian 2nd Corps. He states that the most fundamental thing for a soldier is to keep calm, never panic and not give in to stress: the soldiers who live are the ones who don’t panic. They used Javelins and Stugnas against Russian tanks: once the first one is hit, often the rest of the column panics, leaves the chosen path, ends up on mines, backs up and flees. He says being an anti-tank operator is very difficult and dangerous. Firing an ATGM is nothing like shooting a rifle. Before assaults, reconnaissance is carried out with drones and anti-tank positions may be busted and hammered with artillery. During the assault, tanks continuously fire against the anti-tank positions and the only thing to do is to pray for luck. Once you repel the column, you have to go back into hiding. He says that since the summer the use of drones by the Russians has increased 10-fold, as has their EW, but the Ukrainians have also grown a lot in this respects. Today most of the losses in his unit are due to FPV drones or “resets”. The Russians no longer carry out armored attacks in his section of the front, but only infantry assaults in small groups.

He says interesting things on the emotional level. In early June he lost his best friend, who was fighting together with his two sons in the same unit as the interviewee, and it was a very hard blow for him. His sons had just blown two Russian tanks up. He says morale among the soldiers is high and everyone is convinced of the importance of defending Ukraine. He says that only in war one discovers the true meaning of friendship and that it will be very difficult to get used to civilian life again when the war ends. In any case, he is very disillusioned on this issue: he says that he believes he will not make it to the end of the war alive and that most of his fellow soldiers don’t make plans about what they will do as civilians afterwards, but only hope to make it to the end of the war alive.

Another interesting thing is about mobilization. He basically says he feels contempt for policemen who don’t want to serve: policemen should be the first to serve since they are trained in the use of weapons, and that they are still in time to go to the front and redeem their dignity. He mentions the “Dnipro case”. I know what he is referring to and I have recently learned about this issue as well. Basically, in January the “Dnipro-1” Police Regiment, from the city with the same name (not to be confused with the “Dnipro-1” Battalion of the 31st “Dnipro” Brigade of the National Guard), was framed into the “Lyut” Assault Brigade of the National Police (part of the Offensive Guard). There were protests from the chiefs and the members of the regiment against this. As a result, the regiment has been disbanded and the members sent to new companies/battalions being created within the “Lyut” Brigade (one of the largest, and largely made up of volunteer policemen). Those who refuse will be fired as policemen and are going to receive a subpoena to be mobilized into the UAF. This has met with much favor by the Ukrainian public opinion. Policemen are a not very popular category right now in Ukraine. Let’s recall how in November it had been proposed to mobilize a part of them, but they managed to eliminate, for now, this measure. Before the war the Police wasn’t a very popular branch (partly because of some issues of corruption and abuse of power) and now Ukrainians see that policemen who don’t volunteer can sit quietly in the rear while civilians without military experience are mobilized. Personally, I, too, think it’s time to start mobilizing policemen (and part of the State Emergency Service) and maybe replace the ranks with older men and women. The topic of mobilizing convicts is also addressed. The interviewee says he is willing to fight with those convicted of culpable and non-violent crimes but not with the others. In general, mobilization of convicts is an ongoing debate of growing importance in Ukraine, especially now that the voice most opposed to it (Zaluzhny) has been deposed. In an interview I heard last month, a Lt. Colonel from the 68th Jager Brigade emphasized the need for the use of convicts, on a voluntary basis, as stormtroopers or sappers, in penal units separated from the regular ones.

To that end, you have to remember that Ukraine is taking what, a minimum of 40 KIA per day in that battle?

I agree - most likely considerably more during the last days of the urban phase of the battle.

There are several natural defense lines before the Russians could be able to seriously approach Pokrovsk. I will elaborate more throughoutly when I do a general review of the front lines, I think early next month.

Yesterday there was indeed evidence that the Ukrainians have committed elements of the 25th Airborne Brigade near Orlivka. It’s not clear yet right now whether it’s just a battalion or the entire brigade, but it’s certainly one of the best Ukrainian brigades along with the 3rd Assault Brigade. They were already committed near Avdiivka back in the spring and early summer 2022 if I recall correctly.

Edit: forgot to add that elements of the 3rd Assault Brigade had to be redeployed to Krasnohorivka (the one north of Marinka), towards which there has been Russian progress during the current week, though. And the 116th Mechanized Brigade seems to be back in Orikhiv.