Day 246: October 27In the Luhansk region, the intensity of the fights continues to increase. Despite the fact that the Ukrainians maintained control over Bilohorivka and the forest, the Russians launched their third offensive operation in the direction of the Zherebets River. Apparently, the Ukrainians have repelled this attack and immediately launched a counterattack, because today, the Russians already reported Ukrainian assaults up to 10 km from the initial Ukrainian positions that they assaulted.Yesterday I told you that the Russians would likely launch a series of assaults in the direction of Siversk before they make another offensive here. Since the forest is not secured, attacking in the direction of Zherebets River would be a direct invite to the Ukrainians to conduct a flank attack. However, the Russians launched this attack anyways. This indicates that the Russians are trying to make sure that the Ukrainians will not manage to establish strong positions close to the Krasna River before the Russians manage to set the proper conditions for the offensive. It seems like the attack was going to be launched in any case and they just hoped that by the time they launch it, Ukrainian tactical position around Bilohorivka and the forest would already worsen.Yesterday, the Russians opened six lines of attack and assaulted every settlement from Makiivka to Torske. Russian sources reported that the Russians managed to completely eliminate the Ukrainian bridgehead on the eastern side of the river to the north of Terny. The Russians have also reported that tough fights were taking place in Terny, Yampolivka, and Torske. And this is not surprising because over the last several days the Ukrainians have relocated a lot of heavy machinery to the southern part of this region, so these villages were heavily reinforced with tanks and other vehicles. Nonetheless, the equipment came in handy because the Russians that were attacking Torske were quickly forced to retreat towards Dibrova. Here they established certain defensive positions around the village and managed to stop an immediate Ukrainian retaliation directed toward this settlement. Now the Russians are reporting that the Ukrainians are engaging additional units to the south and are creating a fist to attack Dibrova. Simultaneously, the Russians are expecting an attack from Yampolivka because here and in Terny the Ukrainians managed to repel the Russian attack as well. In fact, here, the immediate Ukrainian counteroffensive was the most effective because the fights moved around 12 km northeast towards Chervonopopivka.Now, this is an extremely important detail because it contradicts Russian claims of control of many small settlements in the area. If the Russians have indeed eliminated the Ukrainian bridgehead on the eastern side of the Zherebets River, then why would the Ukrainians move 12 km east to fight instead of moving 1 km north? Novosadove is only 1 km away from Torske, while Nevske is only 5 km away. This means that the Russians would be able just to shoot the Ukrainians in the back if they were there. Moreover, the Ukrainians also passed by the village of Vedmezhe, from where the Russians could supposedly conduct a flank attack. These contradictions strongly indicate that the Russian offensive had extremely limited success if any.With the information available right now, it seems like the Ukrainians retained control over the whole bridgehead. The confirmation of that would be the development of a counteroffensive in the direction of Ploschanka and Krasnorichenske that, in the current situation, would be sensible to expect today at night or tomorrow.Overall, the main goal of the Russian third offensive operation was not achieved. The most important settlements, such as Torske, Yampolivka, and Terny, have been successfully defended by the Ukrainians. On top of that, the immediate counteroffensive of the Ukrainian side indicated that despite complications with the logistics, the Ukrainians have managed to establish strong positions on the Zherebets River’s eastern bank.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.