For several months, the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade of Ukrainian soldiers managed to repel Russian assaults in southeastern Ukraine, despite facing shortages of artillery shells. The brigade successfully defended the limited gains from their previous counteroffensive, withstanding repeated attacks. They incurred casualties but managed to thwart every Russian assault, including one by an elite marine brigade, resulting in abandoned Russian armor scattered across the open steppe.
However, in late March, Russian forces shifted their focus to two small villages: Urozhaine and Staromaiorske. After a three-month-long campaign, the Russians successfully occupied Staromaiorske in June and eventually breached the defenses of the exhausted Ukrainian soldiers, recapturing Urozhaine on July 14.
Anecdotes detailing the intense defense and subsequent loss of Urozhaine and Staromaiorske were gathered from conversations with Ukrainian soldiers who had served in the villages, as well as from a survivor’s account shared on social media. Official Russian social media posts corroborated many of these details.
The fall of these villages dealt a significant blow to Ukraine, particularly in light of recent Russian advances along various sections of the 600-mile front line. The Ukrainian marine infantry had fought fiercely to secure these villages during the earlier counteroffensive, making their loss all the more poignant.
- Ukrainian soldiers from the 58th brigade navigating past a crater and a blaze following a Russian mortar shell explosion near a tree line. The brigade successfully repelled three large-scale assaults during the ten-month Russian offensive.
- Members of the 58th brigade seeking cover beside trees along the battlefront in their resistance against Russian troops.
