On the Novopavlivka axis, the enemy attempts to launch assaults with mechanized groups combining heavy armored vehicles with cars and quad bikes.

Senior Lieutenant Vadym Ivashchenko, Head of the Communications Department of the 42nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Hero of Ukraine Valerii Hudz, stated this in an exclusive comment to ArmyInform.

“The enemy almost weekly conducts mechanized assaults combining light and heavy armored vehicles. Usually these are ‘hedgehog tanks’ and BMP/BMD vehicles plus cars and quad bikes”, — he said.

From January through early February 2026, the enemy has already made several attempts at such assaults.

“In the past month we repelled four such assaults. Ninety percent of the personnel are eliminated on the spot. The rest become ‘300s’ or scatter into nearby shelters”, — the officer said.

Between large-scale assaults, the enemy attempts to infiltrate small groups between Defense Forces positions in the Novopavlivka area.

“While the enemy accumulates forces and equipment for the next assaults, there are ordinary single attempts to infiltrate their servicemen into the Novopavlivka area. Such groups are usually detected and destroyed at the approaches”, — the serviceman noted.

Mechanized assaults resemble scenes from post-apocalyptic films, where tanks and motorcycles charge forward in one wave.

“As for mechanized assaults, everything here is like in the film Mad Max: the entire group charges like a herd toward our positions. Together with adjacent units, we detect them in advance, and in certain kill zones we destroy them. Afterwards, we hunt down the remnants of the group”, — Ivashchenko summarized.