Counteroffensive actions by the Defense Forces in the Oleksandrivka direction began at the end of January after thorough planning and in a regime of absolute si

This made it possible to catch the enemy by surprise and achieve tangible success by de-occupying significant territory and liberating a number of settlements.

This was stated during a stream on Army TV on March 12 by Artem Kulachevych, commander of the unmanned systems battalion of the 82nd Separate Air Assault Bukovynian Brigade.

“From mid-January we received, as always in the style of assault troops, an order to quickly move here to this direction. We received the task, began planning and preparing. It was fantastically fast and unexpected both for us and, first of all, for the enemy.

Then there was a silence regime, which is why I refused communication with you several times. And literally around the 25th of January we began a ground operation here, which was well planned.

It was planned together with several adjacent units, in particular within the Air Assault Forces — the 95th Brigade, the 1st Assault Regiment, and other adjacent units. Accordingly, our counteroffensive actions took place along a wide front”, — he said.

Currently, the Russians are trying to neutralize information about the significant successes of the Defense Forces of Ukraine by spreading false messages about retaining control over a number of settlements.

“Now the enemy is conducting a large-scale information operation against us, claiming that we are not advancing, that we are not retaking anything, and that the enemy still sits in many villages and settlements. This is not true.

Indeed, we managed to retake a large amount of Ukrainian land, settlements, and essentially achieve the tasks that were set before us by the higher command”, — the serviceman emphasized.