RU POV: Russian advances from Day 1067 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Beginning in Toretsk, the battle for the town is coming to a close, with the last Ukrainian stronghold there under siege. Starting last week, Russia began to assault the Krymske mine and surrounding streets, taking over several of them and the first buildings on the southern side of the complex. Over the past few days, Russian troops continued their attacks, capturing more of the adjacent houses, and have cleared most of the remaining buildings in the mine complex. Ukraine tried to hold on for as long as possible, sending in multiple waves of reinforcements on APCs during the night, but these were often struck before or right as they arrived at the mine. Tanks and other vehicles that tried to support the defenders were also picked off by Russian drones.

At this stage, it’s a matter of days, if not hours before the town falls completely under Russian control. Suriyak has been a bit too conservative with some of the other suburbs in Toretsk, as its really just this small corner that is left for Russia to clear. I already outlined my thoughts on what might happen after the battle ends in a comment 2 weeks ago.

Onto the Pokrovsk and Selydove fronts, starting with the northern side around Kotlyne and Udachne. Russian assault groups have continued expanding their control around Kotlyne, advancing to the next treeline north of the village, as well as taking over part of the fields and the mine ventilation shaft buildings to the west. This does mean there is now an opening towards the Pokrovske coal mine (top of mini map), however Russia is unlikely to make an attempt on it until they have taken over Udachne.

With that said, within Udachne, Russia recaptured the small industrial area on the east side of the town, as well as part of the railway line. Heavy clashes are ongoing in the settlement, and we’ll have to wait and see if Russia can make more progress this time, or if they get pushed out by a counterattack as happened last week.

To the south, following on from the previous day, Russian forces advanced slightly further in Nadiivka, taking over more of the houses on the south side of the village. They’ve also begun to clear the large tree plantation, which is mostly empty as Ukraine’s troops are primarily defending from within Nadiivka. Given the current progress, the southern side of the village will likely fall within the next day or 2, and the northern side will likely follow shortly after that.

West of Kurakhove, following on from the back and forth discussed late last week, Russia renewed its attacks on Andriivka. Not only did they recapture part of the territory lost to Ukraine in their recent counterattack, but they’ve also been confirmed to have taken over most of the trench network on the northern side of the settlement, and entered the first houses in Andriivka itself (video confirmed). For now its only a small group of forward troops reaching some isolated houses, but Russia will certainly be looking to send in more assault groups to start clearing the eastern side of the town.

As I’ve mentioned before, the defences north of Andriivka have worked against Ukraine, as its allowed Russia to flank their positions within the town and have cover while they move west. They can also use the slight height advantage (ground slopes downwards towards the river) to assist in their assaults. The battle is unlikely to end in the next week, but if Russia can hold onto these gains they should be able to speed up their progress and begin clearing the first streets.

Moving onto Velyka Novosilka, where Russian troops have captured the town. When we last left off, Russian assault groups have reached the centre of the settlement, and part of the garrison had been encircled in the school and hospital on the south side. As I mentioned in a comment, by the morning of Day 1067 Russia had cleared that area, capturing or killing the Ukrainian soldiers who had been encircled. By the evening of the same day, the last remnants of Ukraine’s garrison were taken out, and the town was confirmed to be under Russian control.

With the battle over, we’re starting to get more footage being released of the initial assaults, mass bombardments, casualties, and POWs (thankfully). There was also a video allegedly filmed by a few soldiers of the garrison, although I don’t know if its real or fake. Russian soldiers from the 5th Guards Tank Brigade and 40th Marine Brigade even set off fireworks in the stadium in Velyka Novosilka, in a very unusual (for this war) celebration of their success. I’ll also mention that a couple of sources claim some of the garrison took the risk and attempted to cross the Mokri Yaly River (hence the blue arrows), under fire from drones and artillery. Theres also a few videos of some dead Ukrainian soldiers in some waterway/marsh, allegedly filmed around Velyka Novosilka, showing those who were not successful in crossing the river.

Before the battle was even over, the 110th Mechanised Brigade was already facing charges, with the supply group commander being arrested for corruption, reportedly working with the brigade’s deputy commander who had been arrested at the end of December on the same charges. Whether this is retribution for the failings of the 110th Mechanised Brigade, or perhaps an explanation as to why their command did not pull the garrison out (corrupt and incompetent), is unclear.

With Velyka Novosilka captured, Ukraine has lost a key supply hub for the west Donetsk region, and Russia has gained a good forward base for their operations to capture the remainder of that region and move onto Dnipro Oblast. Russia will likely not move out immediately, as the units involved in the battle will need to rest, reorganise, and plan their next steps, but they should start making their first moves soon (see comment below).