Day 763: Mar 27Today, there are a lot of updates from the Lyman direction.Here, Russians have been continuously assaulting Ukrainian positions in an attempt to reach the Ukrainian settlements along the Zherebets River.The main goal of the Russians is to take control of the Ukrainian city and logistics hub of Lyman. However, as Russians came to realize, this would be far more difficult than expected, as they first have to cross the heavily defended Zherebets River, over which Ukrainians have established a strong logistics network that allows them to fend off most Russian assaults. Furthermore, any Russian assaults that threaten to overwhelm Ukrainian defenders are then quickly counterattacked by quick-reaction forces or Ukrainian soldiers from the forest, making it an intense but even battle.As you may remember, the last Russian mechanized assault waves ended in complete disaster for the Russians. They did not manage to come even close to the settlements and were completely destroyed already on the approach. In an attempt to adapt their strategy to the current situation, Russian forces now use their armor to transport infantry as close to the forest as possible and drop the infantry off, who then carry out the assault themselves, while the armored vehicle quickly retreats. These infantry groups then move through the tree lines and take up concealed positions in the forest in an attempt to accumulate forces to launch large-scale infantry assaults. However, for such assaults to have any chance of success without armored support, Russians need to rely on intensive artillery bombardments to undermine Ukrainian positions and prepare for the assaults.Unfortunately for Russians, Ukrainians understood the Russian predicament and decided to take immediate pre-emptive action. They used FPV drones and precision artillery to perform counter-battery fire on Russians when they opened fire on Ukrainian positions. Geolocated footage also shows that the Ukrainian 45th Artillery Brigade successfully destroyed a Russian heavy mortar Tulip, two D-20 howitzers, and two D-30 howitzers, all in one operation. The Ukrainian 45th Artillery Brigade also worked together with drone operators from the 63rd Mechanized Brigade to destroy another Russian heavy mortar Tulip, an artillery munition depot, a D-20 howitzer, and three more D-20 howitzers the day before. The Ukrainian 63rd brigade also destroyed a heavy mortar Tulip on their own with an FPV kamikaze drone. The Ukrainian Predator drone detachment from the border police also performed two successful hits on Russian artillery, destroying one heavy mortar Tulip and one multiple-launch rocket system Grad with FPV kamikaze drones.The large number of Russian Tulip heavy mortar systems, which use heavy shells to undermine defensive positions, shows that Russians are primarily focused on destroying the Ukrainian fortifications before moving in with their infantry. Ukrainian forces did not stop there. And while their artillery crews were busy destroying any Russian artillery in the region that dared to open fire, Ukrainian drone operators aimed to destroy any Russian vehicle trying to cross the fields between Kreminna and the settlements along the river. Geolocated footage shows Ukrainian drone operators from the 23rd Rifle Battalion destroying an assault group consisting of 2 tanks and 2 infantry fighting vehicles with FPV kamikaze drones. The Ukrainian 60th mechanized brigade also destroyed two Russian armored personnel carriers with mines, three more with FPV drones, and a T-72 tank with an FPV kamikaze drone. Drone operators from the 63rd mechanized brigade were also heavily active in the area, destroying two armored personnel carriers and one infantry fighting vehicle with kamikaze drones. Ukrainian drone operators from the 100th Territorial Defense Brigade and 12th Special Purpose Brigade were also operating from the forest and destroyed two Russian transport trucks, an armored car Tiger, which is a Russian version of the Humvee, and an infantry fighting vehicle along the road to Torske with FPVs.Despite the intensity of drone operations, Russians still managed to accumulate themselves in the forests. However, the attacks of these understrength Russian Assault Groups were doomed to be suicidal because they were suffering from a critical lack of reinforcements and armored and…