RU POV: Russian advances from Day 960 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Starting off on the Kurakhove front this time, with Russian troops launching a mechanised assault into Ostrivske. This allowed them to quickly overwhelm the Ukrainian forces there, capturing the remainder of the village, although as previously mentioned Ukraine did not have many troops in this area, due to it being isolated from their main lines, and supplied mostly by small boats. There have also been reports of Russian troops moving further southwest into the small suburb of Kurakhove (separated from the town), but this could not be confirmed just yet.

Russian troops will likely expand their control of the fields around Ostrivske, and enter the previously mentioned suburb of Kurakhove over the coming days.

Heading into the second day of the second phase of Russia’s Kursk counteroffensive, and Russia has made more progress across the board.

Starting off with the west side of the front (zoomed in image with highlights to make it easier to see), with Ukraine not making any renewed attacks towards Veseloe for the past few days, Russian troops here launched their own mechanised assault into Obukhovka and the surrounding area, recapturing the village and most of the surrounding fields and treelines. Ukraine’s presence in this area is now limited to the treelines and fields adjacent to the breaches they made in the border. Ukrainian command now have to make a decision here; whether to renew their attacks and continue trying to break through to Veseloe and beyond, having to recapture all the territory they lost and more, or to cut their losses and pull out of this area altogether. Whilst on paper this sounds like a no-brainer, with Ukraine having made very little progress despite weeks and attempts and high losses, there are also other factors at play (political and PR impact).

On the northern part of the front, Russia capitalised on its earlier success in catching Ukraine off guard, and has continued advancing and reinforcing its units. To the north, they captured the forest area and most of the fields on either side of the Korenevo-Sudzha road. Russian troops also pushed into Liubimovka from the north side, with Ukraine retreating from the remainder of the town. This does not mean Liubimovka is fully controlled by Russia just yet, as the eastern side is currently in the grey zone, although should be captured by Russia soon. They have also captured the small village of Zelenyi Shylakh, and moved into Novoivanovka, where clashes are currently taking place. On top of all this, Russian troops also pushed west towards the small village of Nizhnii Klin, capturing it.

These advances have meant that Ukrainian troops in Tolstyi Lug are in trouble, as they are now surrounded on multiple sides, with their last remaining exit road only 1.3km from Russian positions (and its open ground). They will almost certainly retreat, as Ukraine has so far been unable to counterattack successfully, and it is not worth risking being surrounded to hold onto these positions for much longer.

Over to the south of the Kursk front, some Russian assault groups have snuck through the forests west of Fanaseevka and crossed the Psel River, taking up positions in the forests on the other side. Russian troops in this area are clearly attempting to encircle Plekhovo, with this advance aimed at cutting off their supplies from the north (as UA troops are supplied by pontoons over the river). Ukrainian forces in Plekhovo can still retreat from this area, but will have to do so soon if they wish to avoid leaving it too late and being surrounded.

Overall, these advances paint a very clear picture of a deteriorating front line for Ukraine in Kursk, although the situation is not yet so bad as to abandon the whole front. The risk for Ukraine here, as I’ve mentioned many times before, is the restriction or cutting off of supplies to their grouping, if Russia gets too close to the 2 main supply roads. At that point, Russia would be able to hit anything travelling along it with UCAVs, FPVs, Lancets and even artillery, which would make it virtually impossible to continue supplying the thousands of soldiers Ukraine has in Kursk.

On the Kupyansk front, Russian troops advanced north from Tabaivka (bottom red dot), captured several trenchlines west of Kyslivka and Kotlyarivka (2 red dots under a). Ukrainian troops have been holding these trenches since they lost control of Kyslivka back in early May this year.

Over near Niu-York, Russian troops made some small advance west and northwest of the town. This part of the front has been quiet since Niu-York was captured by Russia in early September, as the focus for both sides is on the fighting north of the town around Toretsk.

On the Pokrovsk front, Russian troops pushed into the area the west of Mykolaivka and Krasnyi Yar, capturing several fields and treelines, as they straighten the front line. The fighting in this early is slowly creeping closer to Myrnohrad, with Russian troops just 1.6km from the southern outskirts of the city.