Oleh “Alligator,” commander of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the Separate Brigade, said this on air with Espreso.“The situation in the Novopavlivka sector is difficult — close to critical. The enemy is strengthening its units with both manpower and equipment. They are also trying to change their assault tactics, increasing their frequency. For example, over the past five days, the number of enemy attacks has almost doubled. In our area of responsibility, the occupiers have not yet launched mechanized assaults but use armored vehicles for logistics and transporting personnel to dismounting points several kilometers from the front line,” the officer said.According to him, the enemy has begun using motorbikes, which make their movements more mobile and allow them to approach the line of contact for assaults.“As a rule, the enemy struggles to enter a settlement head-on, so they usually try to bypass it. Thus, they manage to approach from the flanks. They’ve developed a habit of announcing they’ve captured a settlement when two enemy infantrymen run in, hang their rag, and we then eliminate them. Whenever Russians announce they’ve taken a village, such information needs verification — it usually doesn’t match reality. Unfortunately, we can’t always detect enemy movements, so sabotage and reconnaissance groups can enter from the rear, creating a lot of additional problems,” Oleh “Alligator” noted.The commander added that after clearing settlements of the enemy, holding them becomes a problem, as Russian forces level everything with KAB glide bombs, FPV drones, and fiber-optic drones, leaving no positions to fortify. “As a result, we are forced to withdraw slightly to maintain our defensive lines behind the settlement,” he said.On October 1, OSINT project DeepState reported that Russian forces occupied 44% less territory in September than in August, with the Novopavlivka sector remaining the most challenging area of the front.