The Polish portal Defence24 published an overview of the progress of the battles near Avdiivka, from the text of which the following picture emerges.
To storm the fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Avdiyivka, the russians mainly use units from the so-called "1st Army Corps", which was formed in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region. In particular, the 1st, 9th, 114th and 200th mechanized brigades, the 10th separate tank battalion on T-80BV tanks (which is used mainly for firing from closed positions), the 1454th rifle regiment and other similar formations formed from the so-called "partially mobilized".
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For the assault on Avdiyivka, the Russians also used "volunteer units" created as part of the so-called "hidden mobilization" and which look quite "colorful". The following units are involved in the assaults of Avdiivka, in particular, the so-called: "Viking" special forces; "60th separate amphibious assault brigade "Veterans"", which is formed from so-called "volunteers", and which wears the image of Putin on chevrons; "1st reconnaissance volunteer brigade "Wolves" and 58th "separate special purpose battalion".
In the overall assessment of the "shock fist" of the russians acting near Avdiivka, the authors of Defense24 refer to the assessment of the coordinator of Ukrainian "Information Resistance" group Kostyantyn Mashovets, according to which the enemy gathered up to 30 units of the "regiment" and "brigade" level on that section of the front, of which 17are rifle regiments and brigades of the "mobilization reserve" and "territorial defense".
For the artillery support of this "hodgepodge", the russians brought in, in particular, the 14th Kalmius Artillery Brigade near Avdiivka with divisions of 2C4 Tulpan 240 mm self-propelled heavy mortar, 2A36 Hyacinth-B towed howitzers and BM-27 Uragan 220 mm MLRS , several Tornado- G 122 mm MLRS of unknown organizational affiliation, division of BM-21 Grad mm MLRS from the 114th mechanized brigade, several divisions on towed Hyacinth-B towed howitzers and 2S1 Gvozdika 122 mm self-propelled howitzer from other mechanized brigades from the so-called "1st Army Corps".
The russians near Avdiivka also rely on fire support from MT-12 Rapira 100-mm anti-tank gun divisions and 120 mm mortars from the 87th Regiment of the 1st Army Corps. At the same time, it is claimed that the 2A36 Hyacinth-B towed howitzers units from the Kalmius brigade seem to have the Krasnopol guided artillery shell at their disposal, which are guided by Orlan-30 UAVs.
Even during the fighting in winter, the Russians tried to use company-tactical groups with the support of armored vehicles to storm Avdiyivka. But due to the losses in tanks, anti-aircraft guns and manpower, even on this part of the front, in March, the enemy already switched to the already "usual" tactic of "infantry assaults" by small detachments covered by an artillery barrage.
But if in the case of Bakhmut the tactics of "infantry assaults" gave the russians at least minimal success, because the enemy did "seep" into the city, then in the case of Avdiivka the occupiers failed for the time being. The key to such a failure, according to the authors of Defence24, was not only the reliance of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the fortified area, where the defenders of Ukraine were able to literally "concrete", but also the flexible interaction between the units of the Territorial Defense and the mechanized units of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; active use of "small artillery", such as ATGM or SPG-9 recoilless gun, constant use of drones of various types for conducting reconnaissance and/or "finishing" enemy armored vehicles by dropping ammunition from the air.
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