Azov Corps Crushes Russian Assault with Drones at Katerynivka Front

Today, the biggest news comes from the Kostyantynivka direction.

Here, Russian commanders tried to take advantage of the Azov brigade’s redeployment to Dobropillia, hoping it would finally allow them to break through Azov’s old defensive sector at Toretsk. However, Azov’s transformation into a full army corps meant that effectively they could be in two places at once, simultaneously engaging Russian forces in several sectors and completely disrupting their strategic plans.

Russia’s main goal here is to encircle the remaining Ukrainian forces in the Toretsk direction and cut off their retreat. This would also allow them to create a new southern axis of advance toward Kostyantynivka, as part of their broader strategic goal of taking the rest of Donetsk oblast.

To accomplish this encirclement, the Russians must first take control of the settlement of Katerynivka, as Russian planners believed the Azov brigade’s departure had left the area vulnerable, allowing them to overwhelm the local defenses before the Ukrainians could react.

On the south and west, Katerynivka is surrounded by open fields, heavily mined by Ukrainian soldiers. On the east, Russian approaches are flanked by a valley with a river flowing through it, which heavily restricts Russian movements. This means that any Russian assault must come head-on and is immediately funneled into a kill zone.  Conventional infiltration assaults with small groups of soldiers on foot would move too slowly, leaving Ukrainians with enough time to react.

That is why Russians planned to launch a rapid mechanized assault using now scarce armored vehicles with drone protection, and drop off infantry in the settlement. Then, they try to withdraw back over the same path they came from, to avoid the anti-tank mines.

Unfortunately for the Russians, Azov’s new army corps remained responsible for the sector overall, and while ground units of the Azov brigade itself were fighting at Dobropillia, they were able to quickly reorient their highly mobile drone units to deal with this threat in their old sector. Namely, the high ground north of the reservoir provided their drone units with an excellent launching pad, while drastically decreasing the flight times for drones to reach their targets. Additionally, the natural barrier shielded them from any Russian infiltration attempts that might silence the drone waves.

Geolocated footage shows how Russia attempted to break into the village from the west with an armored column consisting of five infantry fighting vehicles, comprising several BMP-2 and BMP-3 variants, each carrying eight soldiers.

However, this assault was quickly detected, as reconnaissance drone operators livestreamed the footage to the army corps’ headquarters in the sector. Commanders quickly ordered all available drone units to reorient their focus, as they assured Katerynivka’s defenders that FPV drones were on the way.

Even before reaching the village, two Russian BMP’s were lost, with one hitting a landmine, while an FPV drone struck another. As the infantry of both attempted to withdraw, they were swiftly destroyed along with the vehicles themselves. However, the remaining three BMP’s reached the village, and as soon as Russian infantry started to dismount, Ukrainian kamikazes were able to strike weak spots in the now stationary vehicles precisely.

With their armored fire support destroyed and any hope of retreat cut off, the Russian infantry that managed to dismount quickly dispersed into the village, taking cover in destroyed houses, basements, and forested areas. However, dropped grenades struck them one by one, blowing up their shelters and eliminating the survivors, while defenders inside the village were fed live intelligence on the exact Russian movements.

The footage shows more and more Ukrainian drones flying in, with heavy Baba Yaga drones now having had the time to load racks full of drone-dropped mortar rounds. As a result of the ensuing carnage, all five infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed, and approximately 40 Russian soldiers were eliminated along with the crews.

Overall, Russian hopes of encircling the Ukrainians to the north and in Toretsk had failed, as they were unable to exploit the Azov brigade’s redeployment. This sequence exemplifies how the Azov Corps’ structure enables elite forces to conduct operations in multiple sectors simultaneously; orchestrating encirclements at Dobropillia while highly mobile drone teams support the other skilled brigades in countering Russian assaults across their combined area of responsibility. 

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