Ukrainian forces have sharply increased the use of American-supplied GBU-39 precision glide bombs, targeting Russian military positions with deadly accuracy. These bombs, with a range of over 100 kilometres, have played a crucial role in recent battlefield successes. In one strike alone, roughly 25 Russian soldiers were eliminated while hiding in dugouts.
A particularly symbolic operation saw Ukrainian troops from the Fifteenth Mountain Assault Battalion and Thirty First Mechanised Brigade strike Russian forces moments after they filmed themselves claiming to have captured the village of Vilne Pole in Donetsk region. The Ukrainian response was swift and fatal, exposing the propaganda as both premature and fatal.
Russian forces have recently intensified their offensive operations across Donetsk, focusing on key areas including Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar, and nearby settlements. However, despite deploying large numbers of soldiers, tanks, and artillery, their gains have been minimal. The region has turned into a deadly trap for the invaders. Ukrainian defences, reinforced with advanced surveillance drones and fortified positions, continue to withstand and repel repeated Russian attacks.
Casualty rates among Russian troops remain alarmingly high. Many assaults are poorly coordinated and rely heavily on numbers rather than tactical planning. This has led to devastating losses, with entire units being decimated in open terrain or around urban strongholds where Ukrainian troops maintain superior control.
The grinding, attritional nature of the warfare is taking its toll on Russian command structures and morale. Reports from the front lines reveal severe shortages of experienced personnel and widespread discontent among the ranks. Despite months of effort and thousands of casualties, Moscow has achieved little territorial progress in Donetsk, underscoring both the strategic resilience of Ukrainian defences and the incompetence of Russian military planning.
Meanwhile, Russia’s desperation has seen it begin to conscript migrants, many from Central Asia, into its war machine. According to Russian officials, over 80,000 individuals with dual citizenship have been detained and forcibly registered for military service. At least 20,000 of them have already been sent to Ukraine’s front lines. Critics see this as another sign of the Russian dictator’s increasing difficulty in sustaining the war effort.
In a separate development, the thirteenth Cartia Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine carried out a high-risk, innovative operation to evacuate a wounded soldier using a ground-based robotic system. The robot traversed 24 kilometres in total to retrieve the soldier from near the front line north of Kharkiv. This marked a significant milestone in battlefield technology, although officials admitted the technology remains far from perfect.
