Russian forces are attempting to infiltrate Kostiantynivka, but poor weather has tamped down offensive activity along the front, the commander of Ukraine’s 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade said in an interview with ArmyInform.
“Modern war demands a shift away from infantry-centric fighting and static infantry positions. This is a war of technology,” Col. Anatoliy Kulykovskyi, commander of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign, told the outlet.
Describing the defense of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region, Kulykovskyi said there was just one instance of Russian armor being used over the past three months — a mechanized assault from the direction of Toretsk.
“The tactic to repel such assaults is unchanged — the dominant use of unmanned systems to stop that kind of attack,” he said. “In numbers: to halt two pieces of Russian armor, we and adjacent units carried out about 130 FPV-drone strikes. And that was just to stop them. These were tanks wrapped in multiple layers of additional protection — so-called ‘cope cages.’ We were effective: it took about 20 minutes from the moment we saw the column to stop it. They didn’t reach our line or a key position, because our minefields also worked — even though they were using mine plows.”
Because of that, he said, the recipe for blunting mechanized assaults remains the same: overwhelming use of FPV drones and careful pairing of munitions and platforms to the target. “The Russians have drawn some lessons from this, and I don’t think we’ll see large numbers of mechanized assaults toward Kostiantynivka going forward,” he added.
Countering small Russian infantry groups is “much more complicated,” Kulykovskyi said. “We’ve been developing a whole system for six months, and it adapts every week to the enemy’s actions. Over the last three months, the enemy has exploited the weather 120% - fog, snow, rain - anything that can affect our unmanned systems. They’re using small infantry groups to achieve so-called ‘successes’ toward Kostiantynivka.”
He said Russian forces are concentrating on striking Ukrainian logistics. “On our sector of the front, that’s one of the key problem areas that, overall, allows the enemy to gain some limited success.”
“Modern warfare requires moving away from infantry-heavy fighting and dense networks of manned positions,” he said. “We try to minimize the number of infantry positions and cover the defensive belt with drones and persistent observation.”
According to Kulykovskyi, the brigade now tries to cover a frontage with one or two positions, rather than the previous practice of deploying two battalions per kilometer for continuous defense.
He also described the use of ground robotic systems. In Kostiantynivka, the brigade uses NRKs (ground robotic complexes) to handle about 70% of logistics to any position, he said. Units also employ armed NRKs fitted with heavy machine guns for specific missions.
“Armed NRKs with heavy machine guns carry out specialized missions. We have such platforms on standby now. If a target appears or there’s a need, the robot will execute the combat task. We also use NRKs for mining, both explosive and non-explosive. Some robots lay antipersonnel mines; others deploy low-signature obstacles like tanglefoot and concertina wire. But 90% of their work is logistics,” Kulykovskyi said.
At the same time, in January 2026 the brigade’s NRK attrition roughly doubled compared with December 2025, partly due to Russian strikes, he added. Russian forces study robot routes, patrol supply corridors and hit them with mines, ambushers lying in wait, or FPV drones.
Right now, Russian troops are trying to infiltrate Kostiantynivka, aiming to get there by exploiting the weather, Kulykovskyi said. Since the start of the year, however, Russia’s offensive activity along the line has decreased - likely due to low temperatures that make storm operations harder and demand more detailed planning, he added.
In December 2025, Ukraine’s Defense Forces refuted Russian claims of controlling part of Kostiantynivka. Ukrainian troops continue to hold the line and destroy Russian forces on the city’s approaches.
