RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 984 and 985 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Starting with an area we haven’t been to in a while, on the northern front Ukrainian troops have gradually recaptured the northern streets of Lyptsi over the past few weeks. There weren’t any large scale attacks with vehicles like what we saw with Ukraine’s assaults on Hlyboke, just small amounts of infantry slowly advancing. Do not expect much else to change here in the short term, so it’ll remain a mostly quiet front.

On the other side of the northern front, a few other developments have occurred over the past few days/weeks. Starting with the northeastern side, Ukraine made a small advance and recaptured part of a field next to the border.

In Vovchansk itself, the situation is a lot more complicated. Ukraine has recaptured a small section on the centre of the town (top pink outline), whilst Russia simultaneously captured more of the apartment building ruins in the same area. Further south, Ukraine recaptured the ruins of the aggregate plant once again, having been pushed out by Russia at the start of October. I’ve mentioned this before, but the concept of ‘control’ is really difficult to establish in Vovchansk. The town is so heavily destroyed that many structures are simply rubble, and even more are heavily damaged in some way. This means there are actually very few places a soldier can hide and defend from, outside of the basements in many buildings. This has made both advancing and defending extremely difficult for both sides, with most of the ‘fighting’ now just being drones and FABs. What this means is that there are actually very few soldiers within the town on a long-term basis, and that with many of these advances the soldiers from that side don’t actually stay in the area but head back out of the town once they are done. The battle for the town is unlikely to end anytime soon, with Russia making no attempts to advance around Vovchansk, and only occasional counterattacks within the settlement, and Ukraine just trying to gradually advance with the forces it has in this area (not enough for an offensive).

To the southwest, Ukraine also made another small advance within Starytsya sometime in the last week or 2, capturing more of the buildings on the eastern side of the village.

Over the past few days Russian troops re-entered Ivano-Darivka, capturing the western side of the village. As a reminder, back in early August Russia pulled out of the village due to Ukrainian positions in the hills to the north (overlooking the settlement) and the complete lack of cover (village is mostly rubble). Recent developments on this front have allowed Russia to move back in as Ukrainian positions in those northern hills are no longer as secure due to Russian advances east of them.

On the Selydove front, Russia continue to make advances in multiple areas. On the north side, Russian troops made 2 small advances through the fields to the north, as they begin to branch out from Selydove.

To the southwest, Russian forces launched an assault on Novooleksiivka (above the m), and have established a foothold in the village. Fighting is ongoing, but initial reports suggest Russia is making progress and will likely control the settlement within a few days.

To the south, clashes continued in Novodmytrivka, with Russia advancing further west, currently controlling 80% of the village. Ukraine is continuing to try contest the village, but is losing troops and will eventually be pushed out.

Heading south of the previous picture, Russian forces made further progress on the banks of the Kurakhivske reservoir, capturing the village of Stepanivka and part of the northern hills (Ukraine retreated from here days ago). There have also been reports that Russian recon troops have already reached Illinka (below the y), but I could not confirm this information yet. As it stands the surviving Ukrainian troops from Kurakhivka and Hirnyk have likely regrouped in/around Berestky, and are preparing to defend the village.

On the Vuhledar front, Russian has continued its push north towards Uspenivka and the settlements along the Sukhi Yaly River. Starting with the west side, Russian assault groups advanced out of Bohoyavlenka, reaching the outskirts of Trudove (under the u). Whilst quite a small village (1 street), its important for Ukraine to hold this as it’s the last settlement before Uspenivka, through which the entire Ukrainian grouping is supplied. If the fighting reaches Uspenivka, even without Russia controlling the town it will not be possible for Ukraine to use for logistics, meaning they will have to retreat from the 6 other towns and villages to the southeast.

Southeast, Russia also advanced through the fields west of Bohoyavlenka, as they gradually clear Ukrainian positions and push them back towards the tree plantation.

Northeast, Russian forces captured the area between Katerynivka and Yelyzavetivka, up to the Solodka River, but have so far failed to gain a foothold in the latter town.

On the Robotyne front, Russian forces made a small advance on the west side, capturing another area of fields. This isn’t part of any new offensive, but just another opportunistic advance. Claims of a Russian Zaporizhia front offensive continue to circle, but its mostly rumours and wild claims for now.

Following on from picture 3, Russian forces have now been confirmed to have recaptured the rest of Ivano-Darivka, as well as advancing in the northern hills. If Russian troops can push another 2km west, they will have cleared the Ukrainian positions that made holding Ivano-Darivka difficult.

South of Chasiv Yar, Russia continued to expand its southern flank, capturing another section of the forest next to the mine and quarry. Russian positions now make counterattacking very difficult for Ukraine, due to the dense forest and mine/quarry on either side severely limiting possible angles of attack. Russia will likely continue to try advance west towards Stupochky, before they attempt to enter Chasiv Yar from the southern side.

Over in Torestk, Ukrainian troops counterattacked into Druzhba, recapturing the northwestern streets. This wasn’t a particularly large force, but is still a minor headache for Russia as it will have to divert troops from the fighting within Toretsk to deal with this Ukrainian advance.

Following on from picture 4, Russian assault groups employed their tried and tested tactic of advancing through the dense tree cover of the railway line to push west of Vyshneve, bypassing most of southern Hryhorivka (blue dot), and reaching the outskirts of Petrivka. Hryhorivka is supplied through Petrivka, so by pushing into the latter Russia will naturally cut off the former.

Following on from Picture 6, Russia made several large advances over the past 2 days, as they continue to press the attack. Starting with the northeast side, Russian troops levelled the frontline northwest of Bohoyavlenka, clearing the remaining Ukrainian trenches and capturing many fields. This advance puts Russia firmly in the area of Ukraine which has no pre-built defences, which should help speed up their advance. Russian troops are still targeting Uspenivka, but by pushing upto and over the main road they can open additional angles of attack on the town.

To the northwest, Russian troops made a small advance west of Yasna Polyana, along one of the streams in the area. This not only helps increase the buffer around the village, but also gets Russia closer to Rozdolne (top blue dot), which is important for the supply of Velyka Novosilka.

The biggest development was on the west side of the front, on the Russian left flank. I mentioned in the previous post that it was currently unclear whether Russia was simply expanding the buffer around their recently captured settlements, or was posturing for an offensive towards Velyka Novosilka (above the @). With these recent developments, its become clear that Russia is exploiting the opening they’ve created and will make an attempt on the town. Similar to the breakout at Prohres several months ago, where Russia first headed towards Pokrovsk but changed tact and headed south for Selydove, Russian command has seen a similar opening on the Vuhledar front and is exploiting an opportunity to go for a different target.

Russian assault groups captured a very large area of fields, from Novodonetske all the way up to the recently captured Shakhtarkse. This part of the front is held by a mishmash of Ukrainian units; 48th Assault and 3rd Mechanised Battalions, as well as the 118th TDF and 128th Mountain assault brigades. The problem for Ukraine is that not only are many of these units understrength, but they’ve also taken many losses and are highly disorganised due to the Russian offensive, which has also expanded the area of frontline they have to cover. Capturing Velyka Novosilka will still not be easy for Russia, due to the many defences that have been constructed around it, and the terrain within the town itself (see comment below). Russia will likely still push north on this part of the front (towards Rozlyv), but will have fewer troops allocated to this goal.