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Reporting From Ukraine:
Note: other versions of this report are found elsewhere on FR, but this is guaranteed to be the complete transcript - unlike the others.
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU

[ Ukrainians Dig in & Meet Russian Assaults With Vicious Ferocity ]

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Day 740: Mar 04

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Bakhmut direction.

The most interesting news comes from the southern flank.

Near Kurdyumivka, Ukrainians conducted artillery bombardment of Russian positions. Artillerymen of the 28th Mechanized Brigade managed to hit many Russian positions in the village, forcing the Russian infantry to seek cover and never expose themselves outside.

A work of counter-battery fire can be seen too with positions of a Russian mortar crew being hit. This shows that Russians have a minimal number of forces and very few artillery systems in this area, which are likely allocated to other parts of the front, like Ivanivske.

This allows Ukrainian artillery to dominate around Kurdyumivka, with additional support of numerous drone strikes we saw before. All of these factors enable Ukrainians to disrupt Russian supply lines to the other combat zones in this direction.

A little bit to the north near Klischiivka, geolocated videos show us that Russians made minimal gains to the south of the railway embankment.

This yet again shows that Russian focus on taking Ivanivske is reducing their progress around Klischiivka. This is because Russians believe that taking that village will collapse the whole southern flank of Bakhmut and force the Ukrainians to withdraw from their positions.

The road to Ivanivske is not just linked to Chasiv Yar but also to Kostyantynivka, which is a major supply hub for Ukrainians in this direction.

Because of this, Russians launch missile strikes at Kostyantynivka to disrupt Ukrainian rotations and the supply chain to Ivanivske. Recent missile strikes led to destruction of the local train station, a supermarket and a church.

Missile impact on the church and supermarket are a result of inaccuracy of Russian missiles that only leads to civilian casualties. However the strike on the train station shows that Russians are working to disrupt Ukrainian supplies in this part of the frontline because lots of supplies and equipment are delivered by train.

From Konstantinivka the reinforcements and supplies are delivered by road to Ivanivske by the main supply road, and for that reason Russians are also shelling the road and western edges of Ivanivske. This confirms Ukrainian control over the village, which Russian sources claim to have already been taken.

To the north of Ivanivske, we only saw confirmations of small Russian gains on the hills overlooking the village. Here, Russians are engaged in heavy fights over the Ukrainian trench networks in the area.

During one of such fights the Russians execute nine Ukrainian prisoners of war out of desperation, after they endured through stiff Ukrainian defenses in the area.

In the fields east of Ivanivske, as turned out based on geolocated footage, the Russian zone of control is much smaller as the vast fields between Ivanivske and Khromove are under Ukrainian control.

This shows that the Russian control of the village is much smaller as well, with only parts of Sadova street under Russian control. Russians also shared combat footage showing the bombing of Ukrainian positions in central Ivanivske.

Russians understand that it is impossible to advance further without extensive artillery and air bombing preparations.

Due to the heavy usage of FAB-500 glide bombs across the front, we can see that Russians have established localized air superiority in the region.

For Ukrainian fighters the situation remains difficult, because after these preparations, Russians launch infantry assaults in hope of entering the center of the village, but, so far, they made no progress.

When it comes to the northern flank, the situation is very dynamic.

Here the Russians do not launch any assaults, but the bombing of Chasiv Yar is very intensive. Large numbers of glide bombs are launched at Kanal district, which is in the eastern part of the town. In this district there are many high rise buildings and an industrial zone.

From these positions, Ukrainians can repel Russian attacks in the same way as they did in Vuhledar. In order to set the proper conditions for an attacking the town, the only workable solution for the Russians is to bombard and demolish high rise buildings to prevent the Ukrainians from striking them from higher elevations.

It is clear that the main goal of Russian forces in this direction is to occupy Chasiv Yar and set the ground for a further assault on Kostyantynivka. For this purpose, Ukrainians will utilize plenty of advantages that they have in Chasiv Yar.

If we look at the topographic map, we can see that the town is on high elevations, and each town district is widely stretched across separate hills.

To the south of Chasiv Yar there is a large forest which can prevent Russians from launching armored assaults to the south of the town and reduce the fighting to stationary fights like the ones in forests of Kreminna.

In the central and eastern parts of the town there are several industrial zones that Ukrainians are already using as equipment storages, which is why Russians tried to bombard them with glide bombs.

Industrial zones are always made of concrete, hardened steel, reinforced materials and underground shelters which make them ideal fortifications in large urban battles.

Moreover, there is the Siversky-Donets canal, which splits Chasiv Yar in half, which will make the battle for the town significantly more difficult.

If Russians launch the attack on eastern Kanal district they would have to cross the canal, but that would only make them cannon fodder.

Overall, Ukrainians are holding their ground tightly across all of the Bakhmut direction, allowing little to no advances to Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Russians are desperately trying to make new gains ahead of the Presidential elections that will be held in just 2 weeks.

On top of that, the spring mud season will start very soon, so Russian forces want to dig in and secure their gains. This is because only pure infantry fights can be expected in the spring, which are very slow during the mud season.

However, based on the recent developments in the south, it is possible that Russian forces are just trying to force Ukrainians to relocate more troops to this region.