On the steppe and on armor. Russia launches massive assault from several directions near Zaporizhzhia

On Monday, October 20, for the first time in a long time, the Russians conducted a massive assault in several directions in Zaporizhzhia region, using entire assault platoons equipped with armored vehicles. This was reported by Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces, in a comment to LIGA.net .

The occupants tried to break through on the frontline near the villages of Shcherbaky, Novodanylivka and Nova Tokmachka in Pologivskyi district. The Russians conducted more than a dozen assault operations, involving five tanks, almost 20 armored vehicles, ATVs, motorcycles and more than 200 personnel.

The Russians also became significantly more active in the Orikhiv sector, storming from several directions. In particular, near the villages of Kamianske, Stepove, Plavni, and Prymorske in Vasyliv district. There were 10 assaults in the direction of Stepnohirsk in an attempt to push the Defense Forces out of Kamianske and Plavni (earlier, the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained that this would actually give the Russians access to the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia. – Ed.).

Also, a fierce battle lasted for more than three and a half hours near one of the positions that controls the logistics routes to Stepnohirsk and Zaporizhzhia.

The defense forces repelled the assault. Russian losses amounted to more than 100 personnel, five tanks, more than a dozen armored vehicles, and six artillery systems, including the BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher.

"What's strange is that they [usually] don't use armored vehicles in this area, because we have the steppe. This equipment is visible from afar. Yesterday, we started hitting them while they were still in the outlying areas. We were waiting and ready for such a development. That is why these assaults did not have the success the enemy expected," said the Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesman .

• NATO attributes Russia's successes near Zaporizhzhia and in Dnipropetrovs'k region to the lack of Ukrainian Armed Forces fortifications, terrain and stretched Ukrainian forces.