[Ukraine] many of the Ukrainian dolphins seized by Russia died "patriotically" (2024)

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-chasiv-yar-invasion-war/32902927.html

Ukraine's Three-Front War: Advancing Russians, Depleted Artillery, Exhausted Troops
By Mike Eckel
April 12, 2024 15:18 GMT

The column of Russian armored vehicles carefully approached Chasiv Yar from the east...

... The April 4 assault on the Donetsk region city was repelled, according to Ukrainian commanders, open-source intelligence, and reports from soldiers on the ground. But more troublingly for Ukraine’s beleaguered frontline troops was what the grainy black-and-white drone video released by Ukraine’s 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade showed: a potential weakness in Ukraine’s defense, hastily built in some cases, and smarter tactics by Russian forces than earlier in the invasion.

Chasiv Yar is slowly being wiped from the map as Russian jets drop heavy, guided bombs that flatten apartment blocks and elite airborne assault units edge into the city’s eastern outskirts.

Ukrainian forces are exhausted, starved for artillery shells, desperate for reinforcements and rotations, struggling to hold back Russia’s offensive in several locations across the 1,200-kilometer front line. After the loss of the bigger city of Avdiyivka in February, Chasiv Yar is the next crucible, for Ukraine’s troops and for the West’s will to arm and support them.

“The battle for Chasiv Yar…is a litmus test for both sides,” according to Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian open-source research organization run by a Ukrainian reserve officer that analyzed the 64th Brigade drone video. “If Ukraine were to lose control of Chasiv Yar, it could have dire consequences as it would provide a direct route for the Russian Army to advance towards key cities in the Donbas, such as Kostyantynivka and Kramatorsk.”...

... A Faltered Counteroffensive

Last summer, Ukraine pinned its hopes for a decisive shift on the battlefield on a major counteroffensive, armed by Western weaponry and bolstered by nine newly formed, NATO-trained brigades.

The effort faltered by late fall, however. Ukrainian soldiers ran into а buzz saw of extensively prepared Russian defenses: trenches, tank traps, “dragon’s teeth,” and minefields, collectively known as Surovikin Lines, after the Russian general who ordered them. An ambitious effort to establish a bridgehead on the Dnieper’s eastern bank, break though Russia’s defenses in the south, and draw its troops away from other locations sputtered.

Russian commanders, meanwhile, redoubled their effort to capture Avdiyivka, an industrial city on the cusp of the regional administrative city of Donetsk. Despite heavy initial losses of tanks and armor, Russian forces utilized “meat grinder” assaults by prison-inmate infantry units, along with extensive use of glide bombs -- air-dropped, high-explosive munitions outfitted with satellite guidance systems and pop-out wings -- and captured the city on February 17.

The loss was a blow for Ukraine -- and highlighted problems with its tactics, equipment, and strategy for personnel...

... “I don't remember a day when we did not have work at our triage unit,” Volodymyr, a senior lieutenant and medic with the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, deployed in the Donetsk region, said by telephone. He asked not to give his surname.

“The situation is more controlled than in 2022, but people are dying every day,” he said. “We lack the life-saving equipment to quickly and safely evacuate people from the front line, such as armored vehicles and unmanned platforms.”

Undermanned, Outgunned

Located on higher ground relative to surrounding areas, Chasiv Yar is seen as a key stepping stone to Kostyantynivka, a town to the south where a major rail line is located. Russian capture of that site would put pressure on two bigger cities to the north: Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

It’s not just a lack of soldiers that Ukraine is struggling with. Commanders are grappling with a severe shortage of weaponry -- everything from rifle ammunition to artillery shells. The shortages are overwhelmingly due to the inability of Ukraine’s largest supplier, the United States, to agree to fund and ship new tranches of weapons.

“Ammunition is our sore spot. We have constant shortages,” one Ukrainian soldier deployed near Avdiyivka who asked to be identified by his call sign, Odin, said in an interview with Current Time. “For example, last spring in this area, the situation with ammunition was much better. We probably fired six or seven times more rounds then. We are very dependent on the political situation, and very dependent on aid.”

Ukrainian troops report having to ration artillery shells, with Russian forces currently firing five times as many shells. U.S. Army General Chris Cavoli, the head of U.S. European Command, told lawmakers this week that that number would go up to 10-to-1 “in a matter of weeks.”...

... “There is never enough ammunition,” said Lieutenant Serhiy Skibchyk, a press officer from the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade, deployed near Robotyne, in the southern Zaporizhzhya region. “If our allies continue to delay the supply of ammunition, we will have to choose between holding territory and [saving] the lives of our soldiers.”...