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Today, there are interesting updates from the Pokrovsk direction.
Here, wave after wave of desperate Russian attacks were crushed by the Ukrainian defense while trying to reach their encircled forces near Dobropillia. As the fields and trenches were covered with dead Russians, their commanders decided to blow up a poisonous pipeline and create a gruesome scene of self-destruction.
With battles going on for the village of Novotoretske, Russian infantry continued to pour in, but they were unable to overcome the prepositioned razorwire obstacles that Ukrainians had turned into kill zones. Ukrainian drone footage from the vicinity of Novotoretske reveals devastating scenes, which soldiers called the razor wire massacre. In just one short clip, more than 50 Russian bodies lie tangled in the steel coils and dragon’s teeth that are part of the Ukrainian defensive lines.
Others were piled up in the anti-tank ditches, as Russian assault troops tried to crawl through them, with Ukrainian drones catching them in the process. One by one, they were cut down as explosions tore through the wire barriers. When the smoke cleared, the field had turned into a lifeless maze of corpses, fragments, and twisted barricades.
Russian commanders are desperate to reconnect with their cut-off forces near Dobropillia, as the encircled groupings are running out of food, ammunition, and any chance of relief. But for Russia’s generals, failure here means more than just a lost battle; it means disgrace, demotion, or even worse. So they press forward, blinded by the sunk cost fallacy of their own decisions, as every failed assault justifies the next. The reality, however, is that the Ukrainians have prepared the area so thoroughly that every new attack only adds to the body count. What the Russians are calling rescue operations have, in truth, become suicide missions.
Between Novotoretske and Volodymyrivka lies a fortified belt that Ukrainian engineers had spent months refining before the Russian breakthrough happened. Even in areas the Russians have technically captured, they can’t clear or hold any of the Ukrainian fortifications because Ukrainian drones rule the air. Two full rows of dragon’s teeth block the movement of armored vehicles, followed by coils of razor wire and deep trenches that channel attackers into predictable paths. Any soldier who tries to cut through the wire is instantly spotted from above and eliminated. All vehicles have to stay on the roads and into predesignated kill zones, as the fields are blocked by fortifications and engineering vehicles are unable to move up to clear them.
After the infantry attacks failed so catastrophically, the Russians decided to try again with armor. On the first day alone, they sent 16 armored vehicles toward Volodymyrivka in multiple waves. The initial assault of seven infantry fighting vehicles was obliterated before reaching the village. Three hours later, another seven vehicles, two tanks, and several motorcycles followed, attempting to use worsening weather to shield them from Ukrainian drones. Some vehicles got stuck on the dragon’s teeth, and others were destroyed as their troops dismounted.
In desperation, Russian commanders committed an act that stunned even their own men. They ordered the detonation of the ammonia pipeline near Rusin Yar, just to the rear of their forces and close to Volodymyrivka.
The wind blew the resulting toxic cloud into the lowlands and into the Ukrainian ground lines of communication, creating confusion among Ukrainian defenders, as the Russians wanted. The explosion endangered everyone nearby, including Russian troops, as the wind could shift the fumes at any moment. Ammonia causes severe respiratory damage.
Under the cover of the chaos, another wave of armored vehicles was sent forward, once again along the same doomed route. However, with the ammonia clouds causing massive disruptions, Ukrainian sources confirm that between 50 and 75 Russian soldiers managed to reach the outskirts, while the other half were killed by drones and close-range fire.
Overall, the stakes near Dobropillia are now existential for the Russian command, and they are throwing men and machines into a fortified kill zone they can hardly overcome. Due to the desperation, they are even willing to gas their own troops if it means harming the Ukrainians too. Yet each destroyed Russian vehicle clogs the trenches, each fallen soldier feeds the razor wire maze, and each failure deepens the Russian disaster.
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