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Stepped up attacks by Russia are heightening longstanding concerns over how Ukraine manages its military and countering assumptions that Moscow’s offensive would slow, soldiers and military analysts say.
By Marc Santora
Marc Santora has made numerous visits to the front over the past year to speak with Ukrainian soldiers. He reported this article from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Dec. 31, 2024Updated 5:06 p.m. ET
Three Russian soldiers race down a cratered road on electric scooters, the video shows, while others speed across muddy fields on all-terrain vehicles.
More Russians surge forward on foot, scrambling for cover in the ruins of blasted out homes, according to the video of the battle on the outskirts of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine filmed by the Ukrainian military. As the fighting raged, other Russian troops arrived in armored personnel carriers.
The 12th Special Operations Brigade Azov, a Ukrainian unit, rained down cluster munitions, chased the Russians with drones and engaged in close-quarter combat, the video shows. The footage was verified by military analysts and some has been posted on YouTube.
At the end of the day, the assault failed, said Lt. Col. Dmytro Pavlenko-Kryzheshevskyi, the 36-year-old chief of intelligence for the brigade, which provided the video.
Video
The battle, he said, was typical of the assaults taking place across hundreds of miles of the front, where Ukrainian forces are waging dozens of pitched battles for patches of land no bigger than a few city blocks.
