Even experts are surprised: Ukrainians are forcing Russians to their knees on the Dnipro

Dnipro bridgehead is a ‘suicide mission’

The village is located on the left or eastern side of the Dnipro – and therefore in Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine managed to install a bridgehead there in early November. A bridgehead is the securing of a river bridge – meaning: Ukraine can move troops across the Dnipro at this point.

Western observers, such as the American think tank ‘Institute for the Studies of War’, initially regarded the bridgehead as a temporary position. But the approximately 300 Ukrainian soldiers have been holding their position on the riverbank for two months now. And this despite Russia doing everything it can to push the Ukrainians back to the west side of the river.

But maintaining the position on the Dnipro comes with great risks for the Ukrainian troops. Even the pro-government Ukrainian media project “The Kyiv Independent” criticized X in late December: “When Ukrainian soldiers say the Dnipro bridgehead is a ‘suicide mission’ – believe them.”

And a Ukrainian soldier complained in a BBC interview in mid-December about a lack of supplies and a poor supply situation for Ukrainian troops who had recently landed on the eastern bank of the Dnipro. “Several brigades should be stationed here, not individual companies – we simply don’t have enough men,” he explained.

The Ukrainian losses are paying off

However, in early January it became clear that the risks taken seemed to be paying off. Surprisingly, the outnumbered Ukrainians managed to gain artillery and drone superiority by grounding the Russian drones via radio interference and then launching their own drones to counter Russian howitzers and rocket launchers. Analyst Donald Hill, who constantly analyzes the situation in Ukraine on his blog, wrote this in a newsletter on New Year’s Day.

One tactic that Hill believes is serving the Ukrainians well: building minefields under the cover of night. “Ukrainian drones clear the streets at night and disable trucks and cars. In the morning, before the Russian vehicles can be recovered, the drones drop explosives and destroy them completely.

The Legacy of General Zhukov

The mines prompted Russian soldiers to carry out so-called Zhukov maneuvers, a Russian military blogger wrote on Telegram. He refers to the Russian general Georgi Zhukov (1896–1974). He became infamous – rightly or not – for claiming to have cleared German minefields by ordering his soldiers to simply ‘walk over them’. A suicide mission.

Due to recent Zhukov-style attacks on newly laid minefields, Russia’s 104th Air Assault Division has lost “unique specialists,” the blogger wrote. With each failed attack, Russian casualties piled up, widening Ukraine’s lead in this long war of attrition. According to analysts at X, the Russians have lost 143 pieces of heavy equipment around Krynky since October 14.