I am a Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the two hundred and thierty fifth day of the war.Day 235: October 16In this video, I will focus on the Luhansk region, and in particular the southern part of this region. Here the Russians attempted to make a massive counterattack in the direction of Lyman. However, they were fixed along the river, crushed from the flanks and brutally defeated. And here is how it happened.Last time I told you that the Russians decided to make this move because the Ukrainians were advancing faster than the Russians digging trenches along the Svatove-Kreminna line. The Russians saw that their defense positions would not be ready by the time the Ukrainians started their offensive operation because they had already pulled their reserves towards Borova, Karpivka and Drobysheve. In order to buy themselves more time, the Russians decided to push the Ukrainians towards the Zherebets River along the entire defense line. Their objective was to establish positions along this river to slow the Ukrainians down.Unfortunately for the Russians, not everything went according to their plan. The Russians managed to take only Torske, Terny and Novosadove. The area of Ukrainian control around other settlements had decreased, but by maintaining control over Nevske and Makiivka, the Ukrainians reserved a notable foothold on the Zherebets River’s eastern bank, allowing them to hit the Russians from the north. On top of that, the Russian defense position along this river had an intrinsic weakness because the Ukrainians had total control over the forest, which allowed them also to hit the Russians from the south.And the Ukrainians exploited this opportunity to the fullest. They immediately attacked the Russians in Torske and pushed them out of that town. Since the Russians did not manage to establish control over Yampolivka, the Ukrainians in Torske and Yampolivka joined forces. By leveraging these tactically important positions, the Ukrainians started to assault Terny from the south. Simultaneously, the Ukrainians attacked Novosadove from Nevske. Here they reportedly used their mobile units to cross the river just to the south of Nevske and immediately assault Novosadove. In order to develop their success, the Ukrainians reinforced this region from the reserves located in Kolodiazi and Ivanivka. When the reinforcements arrived, the Ukrainians also started to push the Russians east from Nevske and Makiivka, gradually restoring control over the region. By creating this additional buffer zone, the Ukrainians set the conditions for a more successful attack towards Novosadove. On 14 October, the Russians were completely defeated, and the Zherebets River’s eastern bank was once again totally under Ukrainian control.Nonetheless, being crushed from the flanks turned out to be a weak reason for abandoning their positions. The Svatove-Kreminna defense line still required a lot of additional work, which is why the Russians were not allowed to retreat altogether. It seems like the Russians still maintained their positions very close to the front line, which ensured tight control over the area close to these settlements.The Ukrainians experienced some difficulties in moving through this region. Ukrainian scout groups reportedly did not get deep into the region, indicating that small Russian groups were operating in the forestall area and lines along the Zherebets River under artillery cover. Ukrainian sources reported that Russian artillery was indeed very active in this region, but Ukrainian counterbattery activities were limited because they were also trying to repel the counterattacks. The main targets once again became Terny and Torske. The Russians sent their mobile groups to cross the fields and crush the Ukrainians quickly, but the task turned out to be much harder.Overall, as predicted, the Russians here were crushed from the flanks. However, as predicted, the Russians are still trying to push westwards to slow the Ukrainians down and allow themselves to prepare a much more formidable defense line between Svatove and Kreminna. We will probably see more heavy clashes here, but due to the chronic lack of forces, the Russians are unlikely to sustain these attacks for long.If you are against the invasion of Ukraine and want to support the work that I am doing, consider making a purchase in the online store UA Supporter. Here you can find a lot of products with Ukrainian symbols, to not only show your support for this channel, but also for Ukraine.