Ukrainian forces have repelled what they described as one of the largest coordinated Russian assaults in southern Ukraine to date, eliminating 140 Russian troops and destroying 29 armored vehicles in a two-and-a-half-hour battle near the Zaporizhzhia front, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces reported on Thursday.
The assault reportedly began on April 16 around 18:00 local time and involved at least 320 Russian personnel, 40 armored vehicles, three tanks, and approximately a dozen buggies.
Ukrainian reconnaissance units detected the advance near the villages of Pyatikhatky, Stepove, Lobkove, Mala Tokmachka, and Mali Shcherbaky. Using drones and artillery, Ukrainian forces struck the first wave of vehicles 8 kilometers from the front line, according to the Southern Defense Forces’ Telegram channel.
“Enemy losses: 29 units of military equipment destroyed, 140 personnel, three tanks damaged,” the statement read. “The enemy failed to achieve any success, and the Ukrainian Defense Forces held all their positions.”
Footage released by the Ukrainian military and shared via Telegram shows aerial strikes on Russian armored columns, multiple explosions, and large plumes of smoke.
On April 16, around 6:00 PM, on the Zaporizhzhia front, Russians began an assault which involved approximately 320 personnel, 40 armored combat vehicles, three tanks, and around ten buggies.
Ukrainian Defense Forces detected the enemy’s movement in advance through aerial… pic.twitter.com/wsSEv0ZQ6n
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 17, 2025
Though other outlets were unable to independently verify the time and location of the footage, the Southern Command emphasized that the engagement marked a shift in Russian tactics toward larger, more centralized assaults.
The Russian units involved reportedly included several regiments from the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District. The failed push follows a similar Russian attack on April 13 in the same region and may signal a broader strategy change from smaller infantry infiltration units to massed formations, according to Ukrainian officials.
Junior Sergeant Stanislav Bunyatov of Ukraine’s 24th Aidar Assault Battalion commented on the scale of the assault in a Telegram post, writing, “Rusnya conducted one of the largest offensives. They tried to break through the defense west of Orikhiv… most of them were eliminated.”
He later added that the Russian group had deployed over 300 soldiers, comparing the size of the assault to earlier skirmishes in Kursk Oblast, which involved smaller units.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Command, Vladyslav Voloshyn, explained the evolution of Russian battlefield tactics. “Approximately 5-7 men would prepare for these assaults, make a so-called corridor with electronic warfare (anti-drone) equipment, and try to go as far as possible with these groups of infantry,” he said.
However, he noted that Wednesday’s assault marked a shift. “Entire assault platoons came forward, which then tried to disperse into assault groups. Each assault group carried out its task, trying to capture a position of ours.”
Ukraine’s National Guard Commander, Oleksandr Pivnenko, reported that a similar large-scale Russian assault involving armor and hundreds of troops was also repelled near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
Diplomatic channels remained active in Paris on Thursday, where U.S. and European officials met to discuss potential paths toward peace. Meanwhile, Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov confirmed that discussions were ongoing for a possible future meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump, though “no agreements have been reached.”
