Day 391: March 21Today there are a lot of updates from the east. Here, Russian forces are continuously assaulting all Ukrainian defenses that stand in their way of taking the Bakhmut group into a pocket. But such a high number of assaults also allowed Ukrainian defenders to evolve extremely rapidly, and now Ukrainian reconnaissance and HIMARS crews are destroying up to 3 Russian assault units per day before they even launch their assaults.Last time I told you that Ukrainians have the most active stance in the southern part of the region around Ivanivske. I also told you that Ukrainians are reportedly conducting localized counterattacks in three separate directions in order to push Russians as far from the Ivanivske highway as possible.The freshest reports suggest that Ukrainians have achieved notable results. Previously, Ukrainians maintained positions on the highlands around Ivanivske and counterattacked Russians that entered the approaches to the hills. Today Russian sources reported that Ukrainians conducted a bigger attack. Freshly released footage confirms that there were fierce fights in the forest near Bakhmut. Some sources claimed Ukrainians not only pushed Russians out of the trees in front of the hill but also established their positions there and significantly diminished the ability of Russians to cross the bridge over the canal to attack in the direction of Stupochky.Such actions greatly improved the security over the Ivanivske highway, and Russian sources already reported that a column of Ukrainian T-64s is heading to Bakhmut from Chasiv Yar. Some Russian sources critiqued the lack of use of high-precision weapons as well as problems with intelligence and communications in Russian forces, which allow Ukrainians to move freely in large columns of armored vehicles in the front-line city.In the southern part of Bakhmut, Russian forces are trying to create a small cauldron around a group of Ukrainian forces south of the city stadium. So far, their attempts to create a threat of encirclement have failed, and they increased the concentration of their forces on the local graveyard. Geolocated footage shows how Ukrainian air reconnaissance noticed that several small Wagner groups, one by one, entered the building in front of the graveyard and conducted an airstrike, destroying the assault group and a good place for hiding ammunition. Those units that had passed the graveyard engaged in tough fights with the Ukrainian 80th separate assault brigade. The brigade recently released a lot of videos featuring fights in the outskirts as well as closer to the city center.Nonetheless, the toughest fights are taking place in the northern part of the city. Ukrainian forces reported that Russians are using barrage fire. As seen from the footage, Russian forces are shelling the area between the industrial zone and the central part of the city. The main idea of a barrage is to deny access across that line of the barrage in order to undermine the Ukrainian defense on the AZOM complex. So far, it looks like this tactic works because Russians managed to increase the area of their control. Today’s geolocated footage shows that Ukrainian soldiers are holding defense in front of the culture building. Judging by the positions of Ukrainian troops, they are engaging with attackers north of Peremoga street, which means that Wagners have established control over the warehouses and crossed the railways. However, the main focus of Ukrainian artillery became Russian assault units to the north of Bakhmut. As you remember, Russians recently switched back to attempts at carrying out the plan of encirclement and increased the number of assaults between Khromove and Bohdanivka significantly. Yesterday, Ukrainian forces prevented an assault on Bohdanivka by conducting a precision strike on the area where they concentrated. Ukrainian special reconnaissance group spotted how Russian soldiers in small groups gradually gathered in a tree line, waited until the assault group had been fully formed, and then coordinated with a HIMARS crew that hit right in the middle of this group. One of the spokesmen for Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut noted that Ukrainian reconnaissance and artillery units in coordination also destroyed 3 such groups today, so many Russian assault units never actually get to conduct their assaults.