Russia captured 8 km of territory in Ocheretino in a surprise breakthrough, taking advantage of a mistake in the rotation of Ukrainian forces.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Moscow was able to capture the village of Ocheretino in the Donetsk region after the departure of the battle-hardened 47th Brigade. It was formed for Ukraine’s summer counter-offensive last year and equipped with Western weapons. The brigade fought without a break for almost a year.
It was redeployed to strengthen the defense of Avdiivka. Over the weekend, the Ukrainian 115th Brigade was ordered to replace the 47th Brigade east of Ocheretino. As the 47th Brigade division retreated, Russian troops launched an attack and established fire control over the defensive positions of the Ukrainian forces.
The company commander of the 47th brigade, Nikolai Melnik, who lost his leg during the summer offensive, wrote on social networks: “The sharp advance of the Russians became possible due to the fact that individual units simply flew from their positions. I hope they will be trained and retrained as attack aircraft.”
The gap created by the absence of the 115th allowed the Russian 30th Motorized Rifle Brigade to advance along the railroad track running northwest from Avdeevka to Ocheretino.
Deep State analysts said most of the village is under the control of Russian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Ukrainian troops fled Ocheretino in small groups under heavy fire from the occupiers. Russian military officers published a video with the Russian tricolor over a destroyed village.
Lt. Melnik wrote that the only reason Russian forces were unable to advance deeper into Ukrainian-controlled territory was because the 47th had reengaged.
“The holes were patched by those who planned to recover. The 47th brigade is back at work. Another month and there will be a year without rotation,” Melnik noted.
Moscow pulled in reinforcements from other parts of the front line to support its troops as they advanced through Ocheretino. Russian troops are less than 30 km from the Pokrovsk garrison. The city, which is used for the rotation of soldiers and equipment due to its transport links with Kiev, has been under long-range Russian attack since the fall of Avdiivka.
Ukrainian forces lost a Highmars multiple launch rocket system and a Patriot anti-aircraft air defense system as they moved through the city, the first recorded losses of the valuable American-made systems.
Kyiv’s troops fighting in Donetsk are under pressure ahead of the expected arrival of new US military aid. Further north of Ocheretino, Russia amassed some 25,000 troops to capture the town of Chasov Yar. The strategic settlement is located at a height that will give Russia a springboard for an attack on the garrison cities of Konstantinovka, Druzhkovka, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
It would also give Moscow’s forces a defensive position to launch long-range attacks on road and rail links connecting Ukrainian forces in Donetsk to Kiev.
Fighting in Ocheretino – what is known
The situation in the area of the village of Ocheretino in the Avdeevsky direction is difficult; the enemy has entered the southern part of the village. As Nazar Voloshin, a representative of the OSGO Khortitsa, said, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now driving out the invaders from there.
Forbes wrote that this weekend the 47th Mechanized Brigade was retreating from the front line east from the village of Ocheretino in the Avdeevsky direction, and the invaders attacked and almost broke through the Ukrainian positions into a strip of unprotected terrain.
Recently, an enchanting story took place near Ocheretino, when Russian occupiers shot each other, but Russian propaganda, as always, twisted everything.
Western media write that the Russian army took control of the center of the small village of Ocheretino in the Donetsk region, which was home to 3,600 people before the full-scale invasion.
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Tags: Russia captured Ocheretino due error rotation Armed Forces Ukraine UNIAN
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