27 Dec: Ukrainians Destroy A Base With Conscripts - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 307: December 27

After decreasing the intensity of their attacks around Bakhmut, the Russians seem to have shifted their focus back to southern Ukraine because, over the last several days, the Russians have been sending here a lot of military equipment. In fact, just yesterday, locals filmed how several convoys with troops and ammunition passed through Mariupol, heading in the direction of Berdyansk.

However, relocating forces in such big batches comes at a cost – it is very easy to locate and target them, especially given that these convoys go through Tokmak and Melitopol. As both cities are within reach of Ukrainian artillery, the Ukrainians did not miss a chance to strike areas of concentration of troops and ammunition. Today it was reported that there were huge explosions in Tokmak, and local news reported that the Ukrainians struck a base with the newly arrived mobilized men at least four times.

The attack was conducted at night, so Russian troops were likely gathered together in barracks and sleeping, so the fact that the Ukrainians struck the base four times likely means that they managed to identify and target all the places which the Russians allocated to them.

But this is only one of the few attacks that happened on this front line over the last four days. Ukrainian artillery is constantly conducting special fire missions with the goal of destroying concentrations of troops and ammunition. Last week the Ukrainians managed to identify and destroy two ammunition depots in the prefrontal settlement of Pology. This put a huge strain on the short-term supplies of ammunition, and Ukrainian Intelligence reported that the Russians had to cancel several reconnaissance-in-force operations towards Huliaipole. What made the situation even worse was that the Ukrainians had also destroyed a command center in Tokmak. As you know, the Russians have a very centralized system of decision-making, so when the higher chain is taken out, a whole segment of the front line usually freezes.

Nonetheless, the fact that Russians started sending convoys to this region seems to be worrisome. Ukrainian military officials confirmed that Russian forces are trying to increase the concentration of their forces in unspecified locations. The Head of the local Ukrainian Joint Press Center clarified that the Russian command has not yet chosen a specific operational direction.

Russian media sources have been emphasizing recently that the Russians have finally finished building here the southern defense line. Given that most of the forces that the Russians are deploying here are newly mobilized men, it is highly likely that they are deploying them to fill the gaps in their defensive line to protect the region from the possible Ukrainian counteroffensive. In any case, Ukrainian Military Officials emphasized that, so far, Ukrainian forces have not observed a significant enough increase in Russian forces to fear an offensive operation from them.

When it comes to the Kherson region, here, the Russians have been conducting a series of assaults. Their main goal was to return full control over the parts of the right bank of the Dnipro River. Russian small-scale reconnaissance-in-force operations have not brought any visible result, as the Ukrainians continue to shell Russian prefrontal positions and also send small scout groups across the river. Last time we covered this region, I told you that the Russians discovered that the number of boats on their side of the river was increasing, which clearly indicated that the Ukrainians had crossed the river and were conducting reconnaissance in the deep rear. This might explain a series of very successful precision strikes because, over the last four days, the Ukrainians have destroyed one ammunition depot in Kahovka, and one command center, one ammunition depot, and one base in the Scadovsk region.