1. Bobruk and his team had just completed 90-day rotation, basically on the zero line/gray area the entire time. Surviving this was almost a miracle. They now had just five days off (mostly still in Donetsk oblast) before heading back - the lack of manpower is that bad.

2. Units are all tiny now, on both sides. Bobruk's team deploys mostly in pairs, and Russians come in ones or twos. 'Even three soldiers together is already enough to almost guarantee a (FPV) drone strike,' Bobruk said.

3. Armour has nearly disappeared from the battlefield. Tanks, IFVs and heavy vehicles are all but absent now. 'We saw enemy armour literally three times total in 90 days,' Bobruk said. 'It's only men now - just meat.'

4. When major Russian assaults do come, they are almost exclusively by motorbike. Bobruk told of one Russian assault with 112 (!) motorbikes involved, each carrying two soldiers. These are rarely successful. 'Barely ten of these 224 Russians survived,' he said.

5. Pro-Russian civilians supporting the enemy is a huge problem in these frontline villages. Bobruk tells one story of two locals in a building to their west warmly greeting Russian soldiers and welcoming them in, allowing them to use their apartment. /cont

This meant that his team, which had been largely holding in place, was now suddenly flanked from their left. 'Many, many cases of this,' he says. 'Everyone still left in these places (near the front) are pro-Russian - many actively help them. We are constantly endangered by them.

6. Russians are now increasingly using civilian clothing in attempts to bypass positions. Very common just to see one or two Russians dressed casually and just wandering around. This has even led to ambushes on his team by men they had presumed were civilians.

7. Bobruk doesn't believe that any major Russian offensive is coming this fall. 'They are already doing all that they can, throwing meat constantly. They don't have the forces, and armoured vehicles don't have the same effect as they did earlier in the war.' /thread

Full article on the 14th Brigade and the situation on the Pokrovsk/Myrnohrad front coming soon. In the meantime, if you like my reporting, you can help me continue it below: https://buymeacoffee.com/neilp...

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@NeilPHauer 14th national guard brigade. Please remember there is a 14th mechanized brigade too

@franfran2424 Good catch, yes that is the one

@NeilPHauer Wait so they have lost so many they can't have more than 2 to 3 soldiers together. That is bad. My thoughts and prays are with them and yourself. Stay safe @NeilPHauer

@NeilPHauer @threadreaderapp please unroll this post. Ty.

@NeilPHauer In war time, summarily executing enemy soldiers who dress in civilian clothes to avoid detection is appropriate. So is summary execution of those found aiding the enemy.

@NeilPHauer So question, would a power such as US or NATO have the ability to maneuver, first via strikes to the rear and follow on with armor?

@NeilPHauer Do they have any plan to counter that pincer movement or is it impossible? I just see a replay of what happened before with other cities, Russia is going to encircle it and take it by attrition and destroying it.

@NeilPHauer @KofmanMichael @threadreaderapp unroll please

@NeilPHauer Excuse how are theyre still pro Russian Ukrainians? So Zelensky isnt fighting for the interests of Ukrainians themselves…interesting

@NeilPHauer That's is some clean uniform for someone on a 90 day post.

@NeilPHauer Go to the other side of the conflict and see things from both sides.

@NeilPHauer @threadreaderapp unroll

@NeilPHauer Oh, so back to meat assaults, no armour and definitely winning. It is a police-military operation using 25% of Russian professional units and about the same percentage of weapons . The obvious is that Ukrainian military is occupier there and probably everywhere except Lemberg.

@NeilPHauer In case of an assault or moving towards such village where pro-russian civilians are, designate a safe space (on edge of the village or a recognizable building those should people know) Tell them to go there and not interfere) Anybody not in that safespace is considered the enemy

@NeilPHauer Somebody get ole boy an optic

@NeilPHauer It was reasonable to asume that those still remaining there are enemies of Ukraine therefore they should either be forcefully evacuated or expelled.

@NeilPHauer Мясо? Он идиот?

@NeilPHauer This natsie reporter did 3 things at once here: 1. Admitted that the population is mostly 🇷🇺 there. 2. Gave a hint on what Bucha massacre was and who did it. 3. Prepared the pretext for further war crimes by ukronazis because "they endanger us" and "🇷🇺 soldiers dress civilian".

@NeilPHauer You know Russia post dozens of videos of themselves fighting here too? It’s like Ukraine is fighting in a parallel universe.

@NeilPHauer A 112 motorbike assault sounds like something elseqq

@NeilPHauer Great work Neil. Insightful details

@NeilPHauer We where more that a year not far from them and I can just say that the thing wirh armour is not exactly how is he saying.

@NeilPHauer Deployed in pairs, pretty tough