RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1004 and 1005 of the War - Suriyakmaps

We begin this update in Kursk, where following on from the previous day Russian assault groups have cleared the last little section of Darino, confirming full control of the settlement. There is a video of the eastern side of Darino, which should give you an idea of why I referred to them as ‘ruined warehouses’ in the previous post.

On the eastern side of Kursk, Ukraine has gradually pushed along the Smerditsa River over the past week with some infantry, advancing through the treelines to the northeast. This area hasn’t seen the same level of large attacks/counterattacks by either side, just slow advances with small groups of infantry.

On the Oskil River front, Russian troops cleared the last small section of forest/hills between some of their previous advances east of Terny, straightening the frontline. Fighting within Terny is ongoing, with the main clashes occurring over the central buildings of the village.

On the Selydove front, Russian assault groups made a large amount of progress in several areas to the west of the city. Starting with Pustynka, as mentioned yesterday, with Russian forces set up on the north and south side of the village, it fell very quickly once Russian assaults began, with them wiping/knocking out the Ukrainian defenders within a few hours. However, in the immediate aftermath of this advance, with surviving Ukrainian troops in retreat, Russian forces continued pushing to the west, capturing multiple fields and several treelines in the area, and closing in on Zhovte (blue dot).

At the same time as the above, a separate Russian assault group also pushed west through the treeline near Yuriivka, heading towards Pushkine. Given Ukraine’s poor defence of the other villages in this area, Pushkine will likely go the same way as it too is quite small and without any proper defences around it.

Further south, Russia also made some more progress within Zorya, now controlling over half the village.

On the Kurakhove front, Russia has ramped up its attempt to close the pocket along the Sukhi Yaly River. Starting with the north side, Russia made another small advance south of Dalnje, capturing another field and shortening the opening of the pocket somewhat.

To the southeast, Russia launched a mechanised assault from the north, advancing all the way down to Romanivka and landing troops in the village. At the same time, a little to the east a separate Russian mechanised group also advanced from the north into Illinka, capturing most of the settlement and clearing several Ukrainian defensive positions. Whilst Ukraine was already in the progress of retreating from the pocket, it has not done so fast enough, with a number of Ukrainian troops either left behind or isolated by Russian advances before they could pull out.

As you can probably see from these advances, this pocket will certainly be closed by Russian over the next week, as most of Ukraine’s defences here have been broken or abandoned, and they no longer have the ability to even try hold this area. As with all these retreats, Russia can’t just blindly rush in, as there are still mines, booby-traps, drones and isolated Ukrainian troops that they need to be wary of as they advance.

On the Velyka Novosilka front, Russia continued to make progress in its advances towards the town itself. Starting with the north side, Russia made multiple small advances around Rozdolne, capturing the easternmost street, as well as advancing in the treelines north and south of the settlement. From initial reports the battle is not going well for Ukraine, with their forces having to both try stop the Russian advance within Rozdolne as well as the advances on the flanks to ensure they aren’t encircled.

To the south, a Russian mechanised group reached the farm on the southeastern side of Velyka Novosilka, which I mentioned yesterday, dropping off troops. Fighting is currently ongoing, but given Russia has already pushed past the defences and occupied the first warehouses of the farm, it will likely fall to Russia quickly.

Following on from Picture 3, Russian troops continued making progress along the Solona River, and have now entered the outskirts of Zhovte. Interestingly this advance mostly took place along the north side of the river, with Russian infantry using the treelines north of the small lake as cover to reach Zhovte. Similar to the other villages in this area, it lacks pre-built defences and is quite small, so once assaults begin it will likely fall quickly. Ukraine was trying to build some defensive positions at the next town over (Novotroitske), however heavy cloud cover over this area over this area for most of November has made it impossible to see from satellite imagery.

A little further south of the previous picture, Russian troops began advancing along the railway line out of Voznesenka, capturing a portion of it as well as the adjacent fields. Fighting is currently ongoing in Beretsky (below the u), however with this Russian advance and the fact they had already lost half the settlement, Ukraine will likely retreat within the next day or 2.

Following on from picture 4, Russia captured the fields and remaining section of Illinka, confirming full control of the small town. Given the advances mentioned in picture 4, this was mostly just clearing out Ukrainian positions and isolated troops, who hadn’t retreated in time.

Russia is also assaulting Yelyzavetivka (to the south of this advance), although the outcome of this is not yet known.

Following on from Picture 5, Russia made further progress on the east and southeastern sides of Velyka Novosilka. Starting with the east, another Russian mechanised group has pushed closer to the town, capturing a small junkyard on the outskirts of Velyka Novosilka, as well as the treelines further north. These advances took place on either side of the hourglass trench network, which by all accounts has either already been abandoned by Ukraine, or is only manned by a few troops. Once this is captured, Russia can then begin the assault on the town itself, now only 250m from the first buildings.

On the southeast side, the Russian troops mentioned in picture 5 captured the remainder of the farm, driving the surviving Ukrainians back into the town. This provides Russia with a second angle to launch assaults on Velyka Novosilka from, with them being 600m away from the first buildings on this side.