Ukrainian Paratroops Join Marines Thundering Down The Mokri Yaly River

One of the Ukrainian air-assault forces’ oldest brigades unexpectedly appeared in the town of Neskuchne on Tuesday, joining a growing Ukrainian corps thundering south from Velyka Novosilka.

A photo that Reuters journalist Oleksandr Ratushniak snapped on Tuesday depicts paratroopers from the 25th Air Assault Brigade riding through Neskuchne on a rare 2S17 armored mortar.

The 25th Air Assault Brigade, which formed in 1993, last was spotted fighting in the forests around Kremmina in eastern Ukraine. That the brigade has shifted south and joined the Ukrainian assault along the Mokri Yaly River could indicate that Kyiv is beginning to commit more forces to its southern counteroffensive.

Ukrainian forces since early last week have been attacking along three or four axes in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts. Not all of the attacks have been successful. An attempt by the Ukrainian army’s 33rd Mechanized and 47th Assault Brigades to cross a Russian minefield just south of Mala Tokmachka, 40 miles west of Neskuchne, ended in disaster on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces don’t need every attack to succeed, however. Kyiv’s goal is to open a gap—any gap—somewhere along the Russian front line stretching across Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts so that reinforcements can exploit that gap and race toward the Sea of Azov, aiming to liberate occupied cities and cut in half the Russian force in Ukraine.

The axis running along the Mokri Yaly River might be the most fruitful for the Ukrainians. In a heady few days, a multi-brigade force led by the navy’s 35th Marine Brigade has liberated a chain of villages as far south from Velyka Novosilka as Makarivka, 10 miles away.

The first unit to take a selfie in Neskuchne, on Sunday, was the reserve 129th Territorial Defense Brigade. It’s not clear whether the 25th Air Assault Brigade was there when the Ukrainians liberated Neskuchne, or arrived later.

In any event, the paratroopers now are part of a corps that includes at least four brigades in addition to their own: the 35th Marine Brigade, the 68th Jaeger Brigade and the 128th and 129th Territorial Defense Brigades.

It’s a powerful force, but a light one—lots of armored trucks, infantry fighting vehicles and mobile mortars, but just a few tanks. The marine-led corps is trying to move fast along the Mokri Yaly River, taking advantage of the apparent disorganization of the local Russian garrison, which includes elements of the 60th Motor Rifle Brigade, 37th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, 394th Motor Rifle Regiment and 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade.

The swift Ukrainian brigades might be just the thing to outmaneuver and shock local Russian forces and pry open this sector of the front. A deeper exploitation of the Mokri Yaly axis—one with the potential to reach occupied Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, 50 miles to the south—might require heavier brigades, however.

As it happens, the Ukrainian army’s 3rd Tank Brigade with its 100 T-84 and T-72 tanks reportedly lurks inside Ukrainian lines just a few miles north of Velyka Novosilka.