With the advancement of the Russian offensive since the beginning of 2024, we can see a large number of video images of the Russian army "planting flags and punching in".
As a matter of fact, we have said before that if you "plant a flag" and then "plant a flag" after completely occupying a certain settlement, of course, you don't have to say anything; if you "plant a flag and punch in" after occupying a certain part of a relatively large urban area, then you don't have to say anything; if you make a very crucial breakthrough in a very short period of time, even if you don't control the settlement completely, then it is not incomprehensible that "planting the flag" is incomprehensible.
However, if the progress of the advance is very slow, the losses of your own side are not small, and there is still a considerable distance from winning the battle, it is more eye-catching to follow the high-quality "flag planting and punching in" of friendly forces at this time.
To this end, at the beginning of March, we talked about the operation of the Russian army in the Yuzhno-Donetsk direction - Novomykhailivka.
At that time, the Russian army had been fighting in this direction for 4 months, and it had only controlled less than half of the village.
You must know that this new Mikhailivka is not better than Avadiivka, nor is it better than Maryinka, its pre-war population was only more than 1,400 people, and the Ukrainian defenders opposite were mainly the 79th Air Assault Brigade.
In the face of the enemy's strength is not strong, the defense area is not a large, strong stronghold, and the battle has been going on for so long, under these factors, the "high-quality" flag planting of Novomykhailivka, of course, it is more appropriate to take all of them.
This is not that netizens who pay attention to the war situation will have these ideas, in fact, those who understand the army's combat system understand, and even the Russian army's participating troops will compare - the results of the battle are there, and it is clear who is bearish and who is tiger.
Therefore, later, the attacking troops of the eastern cluster tried not to engage in this false shelf of "opening champagne at half time", but honestly gnawed the house and advanced step by step.
In this way, after nearly 50 days of continuous attacks, the Russian troops finally defeated the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, occupied all of Novomykhailivka, and won the victory in this battle that lasted for half a year.
This was a complete victory, so the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, the main attack force of the Russian army, began to plant flags in a high-profile manner in the church in the middle of the village and in the western border area.
There is no problem with this wave of flag-planting and punching cards, after all, the battle has been won! No matter how high-profile the flag is planted, there is nothing to say.
In addition, at the same time as the flag was planted in the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, Russian sources also mentioned a number of other units involved in the battle of Nova Mikhailivka.
Its approximate numbers include the 5th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the 5th Army of the Russian Army, the 68th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the 39th Army, the 40th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, the BARS-22 Detachment, and the 1472nd Motorized Infantry Regiment.
According to the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, the Russian army participated in the war with 10 brigades and regiments, with a combat strength of 30,000 people.
However, in fact, referring to the battlefield capacity of Novomykhailivka, it is obvious that it cannot accommodate so many Russian troops.
In fact, the brigade that the Russian army has organized and put into attack here is basically the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, so after winning the battle, the brigade planted the flag most high-profile and actively, because they are the main force of attack!
As for the other Russian troops who participated in the war, there are two situations:
The first is to send out some battalions and companies to participate in the battle, where tank/infantry units will be directly involved in the ground attack, and artillery/drone units will provide support assistance.
The second is to follow up and fill in the line, this type of unit usually does not participate in the attack, but follows up and consolidates after the main attacking force of its own side has taken the position, so that the main attacking force can focus on the attack.
On the Ukrainian side, the main force is the 79th Air Assault Brigade, but it actually has other units to assist, such as the 31st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and some battalions and companies of the Territorial Defense Force.
Therefore, the confrontation between the Russian and Ukrainian armies in Novomykhailivka is mainly a duel between the 155th Sea Infantry Brigade and the 79th Air Assault Brigade, but both sides have "helpers" to strengthen.
And these two troops are actually quite interesting, because their brands are quite hard, and they both suffered a lot of losses in the war, so they have been wiped out several times on the Internet by the "fans" of the Russian and Ukrainian armies.
However, we have already said that the total annihilation of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield has only appeared in Mariupol, and there are no examples of total annihilation in other battlefields.
Therefore, this kind of so-called "total annihilation" statement on the Internet can be ignored just by watching it.
As far as the participation of these two forces is concerned, the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Russian Army fought in the direction of Kyiv when it started the war, and later moved to Donbass to participate in the final battle of Mariupol, and then the 155th Infantry Brigade participated in the attack on Pavlivka, south of Fleda, and caused public opinion because of the considerable losses.
At the beginning of 2023, the 155th Brigade also attacked Fleda, and the Russian offensive troops suffered a lot of losses at that time, and they were all counted on the head of the 155th Brigade afterwards, in fact, the bulk of the losses at that time were other units.
After that, the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade was basically stationed in the direction of Vleda without much major fighting, and by November 2023, it was ordered to attack Novomykhailivka until it was successfully captured half a year later.
As for the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, it is one of the veteran units of the Ukrainian Army, at the beginning of the war, the main force of the brigade was in the direction of Luhansk, because the Russian army rushed very fiercely at the beginning, so the 79th Air Assault Brigade was unfavorable; The brigade was also hit by the Russian army at the rear headquarters in Mykolaiv, and the backbone suffered heavy losses, which seriously affected its combat effectiveness; In late May 2022, the Ukrainian army easily lost the bonus man, and the brigade had a share.
Because the initial losses were not small, the Ukrainian army adjusted the 79th Air Assault Brigade to make up for it, and then deployed it in the direction of Maryinka.
The battle on Marinka's side was also a "tacit battle" for a long time, and it was also able to exercise its combat effectiveness in small-scale operations, so the combat strength of the 79th Air Assault Brigade was gradually restored.
Naturally, the brigade's defense area at that time was not limited to Maryinka, but also included Krasnogovka in the north and Novomykhailivka in the south.
When the Russian army is tight, the Ukrainian army will send additional reinforcements, such as the Ukrainian marines have supported this direction, and when the war is stable, the 79th brigade will be left.
However, since the end of last year, the Russian army has intensified its offensive in the direction of Maryinka, and the Ukrainian army finally failed to hold Maryinka, and the 79th Air Assault Brigade then moved the whole brigade south to protect Novomikhailivka, thus beginning an offensive and defensive battle with the Russian offensive forces that lasted for half a year.
After the 79th Brigade finally lost Novomykhailivka, a video was sent showing the location of 314 Russian battle-damaged vehicles, and the meaning was also very clear: Although I lost the village, I also inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army, and this wave can also be a victory turnaround.
In fact, about the 314 car damage video, don't look at the positioning and photos, it is really correct, because this thing can be "operated".
For example, some vehicles just stay there instead of destroying them, some are photos taken from different angles and times, some are in the state of the same vehicle damaged in battle at different stages, and some may even be their own battle-damaged vehicles, anyway, some of the equipment of the Russian and Ukrainian armies is the same, and it is difficult to distinguish between the wreckage.
Therefore, the official announcement of the results of more than 300 vehicles will be just a casual look.
If you extrapolate from the real strike images, in the past six months, the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army destroyed and damaged more than 100 vehicles of the Russian army, then there are still some.
In fact, the results of this squeezing out of the water are quite a lot.
The 79th Air Assault Brigade is mainly a brigade, and on the premise of holding the village for half a year, it can also destroy and damage hundreds of Russian vehicles, which shows that its combat effectiveness is really good, and the defensive effect is also okay.
So when we say "win-win", purely in terms of the battle for Novomykhailivka, there is nothing wrong with that.
On the one hand, it was indeed stubbornly defended, destroying a large amount of enemy equipment, which was interesting enough, and on the other hand, it was really persistent, and in the end they did occupy the enemy's position.
Of course, why the Russian army can always maintain its attack with one main brigade on the premise that hundreds of pieces of equipment have been destroyed and damaged, this is also said.
Because it is difficult for armored vehicles to be completely destroyed, as long as you control the battlefield, drag away the battle-damaged equipment, and have the ability to repair the equipment, then most of the vehicles can still be repaired.
The situation in Novomykhailivka is that the Russian army is always advancing, and its damaged equipment can be recovered later, and the absolute loss is not so great.
In this way, in a relatively long battle cycle, its combat effectiveness will not have fatal losses, so it can always maintain the rhythm of attack.
And the pace of the Russian offensive will not end with the capture of Novomykhailivka, it will inevitably continue to attack the two settlements to the west and completely attack the line of communication, which is the key point.
Therefore, the follow-up confrontation between the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army and the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Russian Army will continue, but due to the change in the strength of the Russian and Ukrainian armies, there is a high probability that the battle in the next settlement will not last for half a year.