In addition to establishing a siege and wearing down the enemy with firepower, Russia also applied new tactics to speed up the breakthrough of the Ukrainian defense line in Zaporizhzhia province.
Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian army, said on November 27 that the country’s forces recently had to rearrange their defense line at the Huliaipole front in Zaporizhzhia province due to pressure from Russia. However, a unit deployed in northeast Huliaipole withdrew without permission, leaving the Ukrainian defense line exposed.
“Taking advantage of this situation and the bad weather, the Russian army outflanked the defense forces,” Mr. Voloshyn said. This official emphasized that the front headquarters has taken contingency measures, including mobilizing reserve forces, to close the gap in the defense line and is maintaining its position.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the same day that the Eastern army had penetrated the Ukrainian defense line and advanced rapidly in the north of Zaporizhzhia province, near the border with Dnipropetrovsk province. He said Russian forces are approaching the city of Huliaipole and are currently less than 2 km from this city.
Russian drones attacked Ukrainian M-55S tanks at their hideout in Huliaipole in a video released on November 27. Video: Lostarmour
Huliaipole is an important logistics center of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia oblast, located at the intersection of this oblast with Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk. This has been one of the most stable areas on the front lines for much of the conflict, but is threatened by Russia’s recent rapid advances.
Ukrainian and Western experts point out that the Russian army is not only applying the tactics that helped them destroy fortified strongholds in Donetsk province, but is also testing new combat methods, combining technology, terrain and people to create breakthroughs.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), based in the US, assesses that Russia has learned a lot from the campaigns in Donetsk over the past two years. They abandoned large-scale attacks, switched to more flexible combat methods and took full advantage of the fatigue of the Ukrainian army after the failed counter-offensive campaigns of 2023-2024.
Russia’s familiar tactic to attack Ukrainian strongholds is to create “cooking pots”, a term for large sieges on the battlefield, where they use large forces to encircle many sides, leaving only one escape route for the enemy. This method includes flanking, encircling, cutting off logistical supply lines and gradually tightening the siege, instead of trying to attack the enemy base directly.
Ukraine’s Southern Operations Command announced on November 11 that the Russian army applied great fire pressure with more than 400 artillery shelling and using about 2,000 rounds of ammunition per day, causing almost all shelters and fortifications to be destroyed. Ukrainian units had to withdraw from the residential areas of Novouspenivske, Nove, Okhotnyche, Uspenivka and Novomykolaivka to preserve their lives.
Just a few days later, Russia used artillery and drones (UAVs) to block secondary roads leading to the village of Rivnopillya, located southwest of the five residential areas that Ukraine had to abandon. The Ukrainian army also had to withdraw from here, creating conditions for Russian units to enter and take control of the village.
Location of the city of Huliaipole (Hulyaipole) and the exposed part of the Ukrainian defense line in the northeast. Graphics: ISW
In addition to raiding and establishing a siege around the base, Russia also stepped up attacks on logistics lines located far from the front line, making it difficult for the enemy’s efforts to resupply and evacuate soldiers. The British Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) said that Russia has carried out more than 1,200 logistics attacks since the beginning of the year, reducing Ukraine’s transportation capacity by 30%.
The strategy of creating a stew pot has proven effective, but requires large resources and significantly reduces the speed of advance.
“Surrounding and cutting logistics is like using a sledgehammer to destroy a defensive wall. They are powerful but very slow. On the Zaporizhzhia front, these hammers are a condition for Russia to deploy new tactics, helping them achieve an advance speed twice the average in 2023-2024,” commented Jack Watling, RUSI expert.
One of Russia’s innovations in Zaporizhzhia is the “deep breakthrough in narrow spaces” tactic, using 3-4 person assault squads traveling on motorbikes and light motor vehicles to probe and exploit holes in the Ukrainian defense line.
Some groups may be discovered and attacked by Ukraine, but others gradually penetrate deeper and suddenly coordinate together to attack in the rear, confusing Ukraine’s defense units and making them unable to react in time. This is a tactic that Russia has tested and perfected at the Pokrovsk front within the past two months.
“The narrow breakthrough tactic not only saves manpower but also forces the Ukrainian army to spread its forces, leading to more serious vulnerabilities,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, an expert from CSIS.
This type of breakthrough is like wedges driven into weak points on the Ukrainian defense line, which is already in a state of lack of manpower and logistics. A typical example is the attack on the village of Novomykolaivka on November 11, when groups of Russian soldiers advanced 4.5 km deep in just 24 hours, cutting off the Uspenivka logistics line without encountering major resistance.
“Russia is no longer trying to completely dominate the battlefield, but focuses on deep wedges to cut off logistics lines and force Ukraine to disperse its forces,” commented Michael Kofman, an expert at the US-based research institute Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Russian soldiers on drone patrol duty at the Zaporizhzhia front in November 2024. Image: RIA Novosti
Russia’s advances in Zaporizhzhia province have made many Ukrainian experts worry about the risk of the defense line collapsing.
Anna Kalozhna, a Ukrainian war correspondent, called on the country’s army to stop spreading troops across all fronts to prevent Russian attacks, and instead strengthen fortifications to defend and mobilize additional personnel for the brigades. “I don’t know if it’s too late to do this,” she said.
Serhii Sternenko, an activist with 1.5 million YouTube followers and an important role in Ukraine’s UAV development efforts, expressed pessimism about the Ukrainian military’s defense, warning that developments in Zaporizhzhia could lead to a “strategic-scale disaster”.
“If they do not change, it is only a matter of time before Russian tanks enter the city of Zaporizhzhia or Dnipro,” this expert said.