Thread by @JimmySecUK

I’m in Orikhiv Raion, speaking to the commander of a Ukrainian military unit currently deployed in Robotyne. As he described, the situation there is very tough for the Ukrainian defenders…

“The Russians are advancing around 250 to 500 metres per day. They’re hitting us with everything; artillery, FPV drones, aviation (glide bombs) and helicopters”. His unit - like every other unit we spoke to - mentioned the lack of Ukrainian artillery support due to supply issues.

“The Russians are pushing from all directions. They use ATVs to advance quickly, copying our tactics from the counteroffensive. They’re fighting much smarter and they have the advantage in numbers and firepower”.

“They hit us with helicopters - both Ka-52s using long range ATGMs and other types that “lob” rockets from behind the line”. The Russians also use glide bombs dropped by fixed wing aircraft well out of the reach of Ukrainian air defences.

The Ukrainians had no air support for their counteroffensive - labels that a key failing. Promises of F-16s are welcomed, but “there has been a lot of talk”.

The importance of drones cannot be overstated, “in the last six months the war has completely changed, now it is about drones - of all types”. Ukraine still has the advantage when it comes to FPV drones (something I’ve heard from others) because their pilots / tactics are better.

FPV drones are, in his opinion, now more effective than conventional artillery. And Ukraine has a lot of them, “we used to save them for groups of Russians or armoured vehicles, now we’ll use 3 to chase down one soldier”. Artillery is still important though.

Russia has the advantage with “conventional” medium to large drones; Russian Orlan and Supercam drones are monitoring them constantly, the later having extremely good optics.

The commander still believes Ukraine can and will win, but makes it clear that the unreliability of recent support - and the conditions attached - are costing a large number of Ukrainians their lives.