Huliaipole direction: record Russian losses and mercenaries from Africa and Asia

A two-month record

Ukraine’s 7th Air Assault Corps, which is conducting a defensive operation in the Huliaipole direction, said that last week the Defence Forces killed and wounded about 900 Russian troops. That is almost 150 more than in the previous period and the highest figure in two months, Ukrinform reported.

Rotations because of losses

According to the corps, heavy losses on forward positions are forcing Russia to regroup, rotate and replace units. In particular, within Russia’s 5th Combined Arms Army the 57th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade is being replaced by forces of the 60th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade. Once reinforced, the enemy is expected to try to restore the intensity of its assaults, the military said.

Russia’s main tactic remains infiltration by small infantry groups of one to five soldiers.

Mercenaries from Africa and Asia

Units of the 7th Corps report that not only Russian citizens but also foreigners take part in the assaults: the Russian command is using mercenaries from African and Asian countries in this direction. Recruitment, the military says, follows a “classic” pattern: a foreigner is promised a civilian job or safe contract service; on arrival their documents and phones are taken, and once cut off from contact they are forcibly sent to the front line.

Recently Ukrainian forces in the Huliaipole direction captured an Indonesian citizen who was fighting in Russia’s 39th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade.

According to Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Russia’s Defence Ministry has signed contracts with almost 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries. About half of the foreign prisoners interviewed by Ukraine knew they would be fighting against Ukraine.

What the General Staff says

According to the General Staff’s update as of 22:00 on 31 October, there were eight attacks in the Huliaipole direction during the day, near Ternuvate, Dolynka, Hirke, Charivne and Yehorivka. Along the whole front there were 245 clashes; Russia carried out 53 airstrikes, dropped 159 guided bombs, used 4,517 kamikaze drones and conducted 1,927 shellings. The fiercest fighting was in the Pokrovsk direction (55 clashes), while in the Kostiantynivka direction Ukrainian forces repelled 15 attacks.

Pressure on Zaporizhzhia region is not easing. According to Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional Defence Council, Russian forces struck the region 699 times in a day: 20 airstrikes, 486 drone attacks (mostly FPV), 13 MLRS attacks and 180 artillery strikes. Targets included frontline Huliaipilske, Hirke, Dolynka and Charivne, which also appear in the General Staff report. Six people were wounded. On 28 October DeepState analysts reported Russian advances near Vozdvyzhivka and Luhivske in Zaporizhzhia region, and overnight into 1 November it reported an advance near Mykolaivka in Donetsk region. The General Staff estimates total Russian losses since the full-scale invasion at about 1,588,170 personnel.

What next

The rotation of the 57th Brigade means the intensity of assaults in the Huliaipole direction may rise again once the enemy is reinforced. The military urges foreigners not to believe promises of “civilian jobs” in Russia: such schemes, they say, end on the front line.