A direct attack against an entrenched enemy is dangerous. A direct attack without any artillery support is virtually suicidal, as Russian troops learned Saturday.

“Why do these idiots in uniform still decide who lives and who dies? » complained a Russian blogger a letter translated by Estonian analyst WarTranslated. The blogger was referring to Saturday’s disastrous assault by Russia’s 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigade against positions held by Ukraine’s 10th Mountain Assault Brigade around Bilohorivka in eastern Donetsk Oblast. ‘Ukraine.

The 10th Mountain Brigade was ready and waiting when four Russian battalions attackeach with potentially dozens of vehicles. Normally, a Russian commander would order his supporting artillery to bombard a Ukrainian position before an attack in order to suppress the defenders. For some reason, the commander of the 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigade did not do anything like that.

“An unprepared and unsupported attack was doomed to failure,” the blogger wrote. Sure enough, the Ukrainians blew up approaching Russian BMP combat vehicles and armored turtle tanks with Stugna-P anti-tank missiles and explosive drones, leaving at least eight vehicles destroyed or abandoned along the main road from Bilohorivka to Vyimka.

These eight hit vehicles are only those that the 10th Mountain Brigade filmed. Russian losses could be much greater. “We suffered heavy losses in tanks and infantry fighting vehicles,” the blogger lamented, “with many soldiers killed and even more wounded.”

Five days later, the wounded survivors of the failed assault were still said to be lying in a nearby treeline, awaiting an evacuation that showed no signs of coming. “This is the third year of the special operation, and yet the commanders continue to lie and make mistakes, disregarding the lives of their soldiers,” the blogger wrote.

A year after launching a powerful counteroffensive along the broader war’s 800-mile front line, Russian forces are advancing along several key axes. But Russian gains along the axis between Bilohorivka and Vyimka were minimal: a few kilometers at most.

If the recent Russian attack is anything to go by, lack of leadership could be the main reason the Russians are underperforming in this sector. And there are few prospects for positive changes in the command structure of the 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigade. The unit’s commanders “are not afraid of sanctions,” the blogger stressed.