A group of Russian soldiers is trapped and encircled in a factory in the city of Vovchansk in northern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military and open source investigators, as Moscow’s northern offensive continues to stall.
Russian forces are occupying isolated positions in an industrial zone behind enemy lines, according to Deep State, a military news outlet and mapping service with close ties to the Ukrainian army. The Russian group broke through Ukrainian lines to reach the site in mid-June before becoming cut off from their unit, Deep State reported.
Recent video footage geolocated to the area in southern Vovchansk showed Ukrainian soldiers firing rockets at the factory. Other clips appeared to show Russian soldiers at the site receiving medical supplies from a drone.
The size and identity of the trapped contingent is unclear. A leading open source analyst for the conflict, who operates under a pseudonym, told i the soldiers were likely to be members of Russia’s elite 83rd Airborne Brigade. They estimated the group to be the size of a company – typically more than 100 soldiers.
Yurii Povkh, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Kharkiv group of forces, claimed that Russia had made repeated attempts to recover the group and suffered heavy losses in the process.
Russian officials and media have not acknowledged the situation but military bloggers report intense fighting across Vovchansk.
Konrad Muzyka, head of Polish defence consultancy Rochan who recently returned from a visit to the front line with Ukrainian military officials, said there have been covert talks to resolve the situation.
“When the Russians initially got encircled in the plant, Ukraine approached them to discuss terms of surrender,” he told i. “But the Russians wanted to discuss the terms of Ukrainian surrender, not theirs.”
The men were probably trapped when they got ahead of a Russian assault, said the defence consultant. “Ukraine counterattacked and cut them off.”
The group is totally reliant on supplies delivered by drone, he added, but suggested these appear to be “sustainable”.
Ukraine’s position on the northern front has improved since Russia launched a surprise cross-border offensive on 10 May and captured a string of small towns and villages, said Mr Muzyka.
“There is rough artillery parity in the region because this part of the front is not prioritised by the Russians, but it is prioritised by Ukraine,” he said, adding that Russia is “losing a lot of men in the area”.
Ukrainian soldiers operating in the area report that a surge in military aid from the US has strengthened their positions.
“We can see the impact of the aid every day. Artillery, longer-range multiple launch rocket systems with various types of ammunition and submunitions… it’s affecting the overall battlefield picture,” an unnamed officer with the 148th artillery brigade told CNN.
The new US policy of allowing Ukraine to strike some targets inside Russia has also helped slow the Russian offensive, according to Ukrainian commanders.
Open source investigators report that Ukraine has recently moved units away from Kharkiv that were bought in to defend the front.
Several videos have emerged in recent days purporting to show Russian soldiers describing heavy losses around Vovchansk. In one clip, a soldier said his unit had lost 16 men in a single assault. “Many brothers have fallen,” said the speaker, identified as ex-convict Yevgeny Zarubin by independent Russian media outlet Astra.
Social media pages for relatives of missing Russian soldiers feature numerous messages looking for soldiers stationed in the area.
“Looking for my brother… his regiment was in the area of Vovchansk,” reads a typical message posted in the group. “Searching for colleagues and missing persons in the Special Military Operation” – the Kremlin’s preferred term for the war in Ukraine.
But despite heavy losses, there is little sign of Russia abandoning its attack on the city, according to Ukraine’s military, which reported continuous Russian air strikes and ground assaults across the city and wider Kharkiv region.
“The enemy is trying to regroup its units… and is preparing units for attacks on Vovchansk,” the Kharkiv group of forces posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov, warned last week to expect further Russian attacks from the north.
“If I start answering this question, we will provoke panic,” he said. “Let’s just say there are problems, and they tend to get worse.”