24th Ramstein meeting, new missiles from US, fighting in Kurakhove sector. Military review

24th Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting

After almost a three-month break, Ukraine's allies held a regular meeting at the Ramstein air base in Germany in a face-to-face format with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting was traditionally chaired by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown. According to Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, the main topics of the Ramstein meeting were the provision of air defense systems and missiles, ammunition and equipment for new brigades, and the strengthening of long-range capabilities, in particular through funding for the Ukrainian defense industry.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin noted that the United States will continue to make efforts to ensure that Ukraine has sufficient capacity to defend its territory and deter Russian aggression in the long term.

At the final press conference, Lloyd Austin and Charles Brown mentioned the Kursk direction. This topic was also central to Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech at the beginning of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. After all, the Kursk operation demonstrated to Ukraine's partners that the Ukrainian army can change the rules of the game on the battlefield, take the initiative in conditions when it seems almost impossible, and is able to act outside the box, able to conduct effective offensive actions, relying on its own training and modern weapons. The main thing is that there should be more of these weapons and they should arrive on time.

Additional assistance package from the United States

In terms of weapons, the final decisions from Ukraine's partners following the meeting included another $250 million package of military assistance from the United States. For the first time after a long pause, this package includes Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and M113 armored personnel carriers, which are essential for the mechanization of Ukrainian brigades. The package also includes missiles for air defense, RIM-7 and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and anti-tank weapons.

Germany also announced the transfer of 77 Leopard 1 tanks. Although these are not supertanks, they will still be useful. In addition, the transfer of 12 PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery systems was announced. Six will be delivered this year, and the second half next year. Earlier, Germany announced significant supplies of air defense systems in various versions. It is also known that the UK Ministry of Defense is allocating 650 light missiles that are suitable for shooting down both Russian air and ground targets. So the aid packages will continue to grow. The question is whether all this will have an impact on the front line. 

Strikes on Russian territory

As for the use of American weapons for long-range strikes deep into Russian territory, both the Defense Minister and the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff were asked about it at the press conference. But both actually evaded the question. They noted that there is no single weapon that will change the format of the war. The main thing is that the Ukrainian side should use all the weapons provided by its partners in an integrated manner and have its own capabilities to strike deep into Russian territory. So far, we have not seen a decision to use ATACMS or other models for strikes deep into Russian territory.

Situation in Kurakhove sector

The Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief stated that Russia's advance in the direction of Pokrovsk has been suspended. However, Russia is currently intensifying its actions in the Kurakhove direction. Just a few days ago, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff reported that the number of combat clashes in the Kurakhove direction was even higher than in the Pokrovsk direction: 32 in the Kurakhove sector and 31 in the Pokrovske sector. This means that Russia is partially shifting the focus of its hostilities to this area.

Orest Drymalovskyi, spokesman for the 79th Deatched Air Assault brigade, said that the situation in the Kurakhove sector is traditionally tense. Russian troops are trying to break through the defense line every day.

“Assaults, if not mechanized, then by infantry forces, take place daily For the last two days the enemy has been attacking mostly with infantry forces, conducting some demonstration actions using equipment. Two days ago, on September 4, the Russians massively attacked the positions of our paratroopers, 21 pieces of equipment started the assault from different directions: four tanks and 17 armored combat vehicles with troops. Our paratroopers fought with great dignity and inflicted significant losses on the enemy. The Russians lost three tanks, three armored personnel carriers, and one armored personnel carrier was damaged. The rest of the equipment, seeing what was happening to the Russians ahead, began to turn around and flee the battlefield in disgrace. But the enemy has significantly intensified its activity in our direction over the past few weeks and obviously does not count losses, sparing neither equipment nor people,” he said.

According to the military, the Russian forces really need to break through the Ukrainian defense in this area, to level the front line. That is why they are rushing to the village of Kostiantynivka in the Marinka community in this defense zone.

“The road from Marinka to Vuhledar runs through the village. Thus, the enemy wants to get to this road to attack the group holding the city from the rear. The occupiers keep their attampts to capture Kurakhove. The town is subjected to fierce artillery shelling and air strikes every day. Tavria paratroopers are like a bone in the throat for the Russian army in this area, preventing the enemy from reaching two major towns of Donbas and significantly reducing the enemy's predatory appetite,” he added.

Tactics to counter Russian assaults

Thanks to the well-coordinated work of the 79th Deatched Air Assault Tavrian Brigade, it is possible to successfully destroy the Russian enemy and eliminate its equipment on a virtually production scale.

“The operators of our attack drones are very good. They are first corrected by our reconnaissance drone operators. We have professionals, guys who work on FPV drones, they know their job well, they know how to work with drops. In fact, today I talked to our serviceman, who has actually already destroyed a battalion of Russian troops, and all this with the help of a drone with munitions. This is how war is being technologized and how it works effectively. Our ATGM calculations are working very well, our "Javeliners", our guys with the Stugnas are also very good at their job. It's hard, of course, for our steel infantry, our strong paratroopers, who also have to engage in this battle. We are trying to ensure that our firepower system is designed to prevent the enemy from getting close to our frontline trenches, to destroy them far away on the outskirts, to inflict such losses on the enemy that they turn around and flee. But sometimes the infantry has to take part in close firefights, and our soldiers do it with great dignity, courage and deserve the highest state awards and praise,” said Drymalovskyi.

There were cases when Russia tried to use their motorcyclists to quickly get to the Ukrainian defense line. The brigade's FPV drones destroyed them. Russia continues to resort to this cannibalistic tactic, not sparing their own people. “Just yesterday, our attack drone operators destroyed two motorcyclists who were trying not to storm, but to bring ammunition to their positions. The enemy is actively using motorized vehicles. They are trying to escape from our attack drone operators because, of course, a small moving target is difficult to hunt down. But what our pilots sometimes fail to do, our infantry will definitely do, shooting such riders very quickly with a machine gun,” he added.

The fact that Russian vehicles explode spectacularly is a great merit of minefields. Currently, 90-95% of this work is being done remotely for the safety of the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, Drymalovskyi said.

“This work is usually done by unmanned systems, usually from the air. Our sappers work very efficiently in cooperation with drone operators who really know their job, preparing unpleasant surprises for the enemy in dangerous areas. Their work is very noticeable, as we can see in the video, and the enemy feels it very well, it is very painful for them. As for the ground systems, our brigade has them. As for combat use, our guys are working and trying to technologize this process as much as possible to protect our people,” he explained.

According to him, the Russian attacks usually take place at dawn. 

“We call it ‘’gray‘’ when it is difficult for aerial reconnaissance to work, because it is harder to detect equipment. But our soldiers know how to act to effectively detect and destroy the enemy. Usually, attacks take place at dawn and last throughout the day. The enemy does not act in a straightforward manner, they act in several stages. Before that, there is a very powerful artillery preparation, the enemy conducts air strikes, and it is actually very difficult for our paratroopers to withstand, but they cope with it very well. Obviously, the adversary attacks less at night. Usually, night is the time when rotations and supplies are carried out, and our night drone operators try to paralyze their logistics. That is, active combat work is also taking place at night, but it is more work in the enemy's rear,” said a spokesman for the 79th Deatched Air Assault Tavrian Brigade.

Training and recruiting in brigade

Drymalovskyi explained how recruits undergo intensive training and what vacancies are open in the brigade.

“Even those soldiers who come to our brigade from training centers do not receive combat missions immediately. People are trained at our training grounds in Donetsk region. Our experienced instructors and soldiers work with them. Intensive training is underway for the area where our brigade will perform combat missions. There is a certain rather long period of intensive training before people go on combat missions. As for recruitment, it is ongoing. Our brigade is actively recruiting. You can find all the necessary information on our website and social media pages. First of all, of course, we need people for combat units. If you are good with technology, you might be a good drone operator and be able to destroy enemy equipment like our paratroopers. We need artillerymen, anti-tankers, infantrymen, grenade launchers. We even need clerks. If you are a professional in this field and know a lot about documents, you are also very much needed at the front, as well as drivers and car mechanics. We have a lot of vacancies,” he said.