Rostov-on-Don was another major city in southern Buru besides Yuzefgrad, and the largest city in the Don River basin. Especially after Ukraine gained independence from Russia, Buru had regarded it as a forward position against Ukraine.
However, as relations between Buru and Germany eased, even entering a honeymoon period, Buru took the initiative to withdraw its troops from the front line as a gesture of goodwill. Only after relations between the two sides became strained did it redeploy more troops to the front. Even so, all the forces near Rostov-on-Don combined numbered fewer than two hundred thousand, and they were not elite Frontline Troops.
After the Ukrainian Army's 1st Army Corps entered Buru territory, it advanced rapidly toward Rostov-on-Don along the highways. Thanks to Buru's early cooperation with Germany, transportation infrastructure in many places had been greatly improved. Only now could the Ukrainian army advance swiftly along these transport routes.
Although the Ukrainian army had far fewer Trucks than the German military, and the vast majority of its men could only march on foot, Lieutenant General Vladimir, commander of the Ukrainian Army's 1st Army Corps, still optimistically believed they would reach Rostov-on-Don within two days. The 1st Armored Division and 1st Cavalry Division might even arrive ahead of the main force.
As the Ukrainian army marched toward Rostov-on-Don, the Russian troops in the region also received orders to stop them. But unfortunately, the Ukrainians had deployed their most elite forces. Even against Russia's elite troops, they would not fall short in the slightest, much less against the second-line Russian units now facing them.
The Ukrainian 1st Armored Division in particular turned the Russian interception into a complete joke with its formidable field combat capability. Before the Steel Torrent formed by hundreds of tanks, the Russian troops simply could not hold