Russia Launches Wave of Mechanized Attacks at Ukraine

Russian forces launched four separate assaults with armored vehicles on Ukrainian positions along the eastern front line in recent days as Moscow probes the strength of Kyiv's defenses in the country's Donetsk region, according to a new assessment.

Russian troops attacked east of the strategic town of Chasiv Yar, and to the northwest of the captured former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka between Monday and Tuesday, the U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said in its latest assessment of the war in Ukraine.

Moscow also carried out larger mechanized attacks to the southwest of the Russian-controlled regional capital, Donetsk City, and the village of Staromayorske, not far from the Donetsk border with the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, the think tank said.

Russia did not make "significant advances," but likely hoped to test Ukraine's responses after a "first wave" of Russian attacks in northeastern Ukraine, the ISW evaluated.

The Kremlin's forces opened up a new front in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month, quickly gaining territory close to the border. Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's troops had established "combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered" in Kharkiv, appearing to contradict reports from Russian officials.

From the outset, Ukrainian officials and Western analysts said that despite the fresh offensive in the northeast, fighting blazed on in the east of the country, where Russia has concentrated much of its resources in more than two years of full-scale war. Ukraine's military has repeatedly reported the fiercest fighting east of Pokrovsk, a Donetsk city sitting northwest of Avdiivka, which Russia has controlled since February.

Moscow wanted to force Ukraine to divert scarce resources from the eastern Donetsk region to Kharkiv, Kyiv officials said. Analysts suggested Russia launched the attacks on Kharkiv to make the most of the brief window before U.S. military aid, passed by lawmakers late last month, started to bolster Ukrainian troops.

Russia was likely testing to see whether "opportunities for exploitation" also existed along the front line snaking through Donetsk, the ISW said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Russia "marginally advanced" close to Staromayorske and northwest of Avdiivka, the think tank said, but registered no Russian gains close to Chasiv Yar or Novomykhailivka, southwest of Donetsk City.

Ukraine's armed forces said in an update late on Tuesday evening local time that Russia had "intensely attacked" northwest of Avdiivka, including airstrikes. Moscow had "partial success" in some areas, Kyiv said, without specifying further.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that its forces had "improved" their positions northwest of Avdiivka.

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