RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1098 to 1100 of the War - Suriyakmaps

As usual, we begin this update on the Kursk front. Starting in the north, after a little over 3 months of heavy clashes, Russia finally broke through in Pogrebki, with their assault groups clearing out the remainder of the village as well as Orlovka to the south of it. This advance is the culmination of a few weeks of fighting, where Russian assault groups had to essentially bomb out every single house, basement and piece of rubble, often using their tried and true tactic of throwing anti-tank mines inside to destroy the position.

Ukrainian troops fought valiantly, but the highly unfavourable reinforcement/resupply route, coupled with constant pressure on logistics elsewhere in Kursk, meant that they just couldn’t withstand the attacks any longer. The few surviving troops have pulled all the way back to Malaya Loknya, where Ukraine is gearing up for a final stand for the northern side of the Kursk front.

To the south, continuing on from the previous update, the Russian assault groups that entered Lebedevka 2 days prior have continued their attacks, taking over the remainder of the west side of the village, as well as most of the centre of the town. The Ukrainian garrison here is falling apart quickly, as the settlement is just too isolated from the rest of their forces, meaning supply and mechanised support is incredibly difficult. At the current pace, Russia will take the Lebedevka within a few days.

Even further south, there are reports that Ukraine has abandoned their remaining positions in Kurilovka (50% Russian controlled) after a few weeks of fighting, pulling back to the adjacent forest to the west. Russia is reportedly conducting combing operations now, although until that is done no advance can be confirmed (only greyzone expansion).

Now for the topic that has stirred a lot of interest this week, we move to Toretsk. Over the past 2 days, Ukraine has launched several infiltration attacks into the town, using very small groups of troops in Armoured cars or on foot. These groups are ignoring any semblance of frontlines or clearing operations, and are just trying to push as far into Toretsk as possible and dig into whatever position they end up in.

With this particular day, one such group was confirmed to have moved into Toretsk from the north, reaching the stadium area before their vehicle was destroyed. Suriyak left this area as greyzone for this update as from the video it was unclear what happened to the soldiers in the vehicle, although this gets updated in a later image.

Following on from the previous post, over the past 4 days the Russian troops that entered Pyatykhatky cleared and captured the village. There is still some Ukrainian infantry in the forest west of here, but due to the now unfavourable position they will likely pull back north of the stream within the next few days.

Referring back to my list from last year, this means Lobkove is now the last settlement left for Russia to recapture to completely undo all Ukrainian gains during their 2023 counteroffensive. Obviously this is irrelevant, as recapturing that territory was never a direct Russian goal (hence why they haven’t tried to push in this are until now), but it would be at least a small PR win for them.

Following on from picture 1, starting with the north again, with Ukraine losing its positions in Pogrebki and Orlovka, Russia has been able to advance even further in this area, taking over Novaya Sorochina (mostly abandoned) as well as the treelines and railway line to the northeast. As mentioned in my earlier comment, Ukraine has pulled most of their outer troops back to Malaya Loknya and are preparing their defences for the inevitable assault, meaning Russia has been able to clear most of the area to the north quite quickly. Staraya Sorochina or Nikolaevka are likely the next target, if Russia does not try directly push south along the railway to reach Malaya Loknya.

To the south, Russian assault groups were confirmed to be in control of Nikolskii, following a few weeks on fighting in the area. Russian troops were actually dropped off here back in January, taking up positions in the basements and treelines, and from the reports it looks like those troops were never fully driven out by Ukraine, leading to the eventual capture. Russia’s hold on Nikolskii is a bit fragile due to the only supply route being via the open fields, however if they can properly secure it and push east, they could cut off Ukraine’s supply lines to Malaya Loknya (the railway line and road east of it).

Even further south, in Lebedevka, the Russian assault groups made further progress, capturing the last of the north side of the village, as well as more of the south side. At this stage there is only the last few houses along the one street, which are being cleared by Russia now.

Over on the Kupyansk front, Russian troops continued advancing south of Dvorichna, talking over a forest area and some treelines next to the Oskil River. Whilst Russian DRGs are active around Kindrashivka and Holubivka, no assaults of either settlement have taken place yet. Ukraine have also somewhat stabilised the northern Kupyansk front after bringing in more troops and equipment, however they have been unable to launch a successful counterattack so far due to Russian drone strikes disrupting their movements (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4). Russia is still relying on infantry on foot, coupled with heavy drone support, to advance in this area, as no vehicles have been spotted here yet.

In Chasiv Yar, heavy fighting continues in the town. On the northwest side, Ukraine counterattacked, managing to retake 2 of the streets of the western suburbs. This is likely an attempt to ease the pressure on their garrison in the central area, who are under heavy shelling and frequent attacks. In said central area, Russia captured a row of apartment buildings, and are currently attacking the next row over.

Slightly south of that, a different group of Russian troops has begun to advance into Chasiv Yar’s southern suburbs, taking over some houses and industrial buildings. Progress remains slow, and both sides are using numerous drones making operations very difficult.

Following on from picture 2, the Ukrainian group that reached the stadium area were confirmed to have holed themselves up in a few of the houses and one of the apartment buildings. They are currently being shelled and hit by drones as Russia prepares to counterattack.

To the south, another Ukrainian group on an armoured car infiltrated the southern side of the town overnight, crossing the fields and reaching the houses on the southwestern corner. Russia spotted this group as they were moving in, and in the morning filmed themselves destroying the buildings the Ukrainian soldiers occupied by throwing in anti-tank mines. Thus Suriyak has left this area as greyzone, as its unclear whether any Ukrainian troops remain or were wiped out by the Russians.

Moving to the Kurakhove front, over the past few days Russia secured the southern side of Kostyantynopil, bringing in more troops as they start to push north further into the town. Ukraine’s garrison are still maintaining their positions, however heavy shelling and constant drone attacks are adding up and with a sketchy at best supply route, they won’t be able to hold out for too long. Ukrainian counterattack attempts from Bahatyr have all failed to drive Russia back, with drones knocking out tanks and IFVs before they can even reach Kostyantynopil.

On the Velyka Novosilka front, Russian assault groups continue to advance, capturing a number of fields south and southeast of Burlatske (blue dot). From Russian reports, they claim that Ukraine’s garrison have all but abandoned the village before the battle even began, being too few to hold against a Russian assault. Instead they have allegedly moved to the northernmost street in Burlatske and only plan on using drones to harass the Russians before withdrawing. Obviously I can’t attest to how true this is, but I’ll note that Ukraine’s manpower issues on this front are well known and Russia has been able to cross the gap between Vremivka and Burlatske very quickly, so things clearly aren’t going well for Ukraine.

Additionally, southwest of this advance, a separate Russian group captured several fields as they push north towards Pryvilne (small village east of Vilne Pole).

Following on from picture 4, Russian troops were confirmed to have made a minor advance south of Novaya Sorochina, clearing one of the treelines. This group is headed for Staraya Sorochina, although haven’t tried to assault the village yet.

Moving south, Russian assault groups captured the remainder of Lebedevka, confirming full control of the village (as well as the treeline immediately south). This does mean Russia now have an open path right into Sudzha, however as I’ve explained before an attack would be almost impossible to pull off. Instead, Russia can begin to move north to Loknya (under the k, a big livestock farm), which would put additional pressure on Ukrainian troops in Malaya Loknya. The capture of Lebedevka also means Russia is now within ATGM range of the northern supply road (expanded on in comment below).

Southwest of here, Russia was confirmed to have secured most of Novenke (a small forest), after crossing the border last week. Whilst other Russian sources show much greater territorial control in this area, including claiming Russian troops are in Basivka, Suriyak is leaving more of this area as greyzone until more evidence is released. From the reports fighting is ongoing in this area, with lots of attacks and counterattacks as both sides try to secure positions in Basivka.

Following on from picture 7, Ukraine flooded even more infiltration groups into Toretsk, moving back into the northern suburbs, western forest, and western suburbs. At the same time, Russia’s counterattack and bombing of the Ukrainian group near the stadium paid off, as they have now recaptured that area.

To explain what has happened, Russia never completely captured Toretsk, as there were still the slag heaps on the northern side of the town and the outermost buildings to secure. Despite not manning those areas and not expanding the buffer around Toretsk, Russian units were already moving to a rest and reorganise phase, which they typically do after larger settlement battles. This meant that the perimeter of Toretsk was not being defended properly, leaving openings for Ukraine to sneak back into the town. This has led to Ukrainian command flooding small infiltration groups (reportedly 5 or fewer people each), who are just rushing deeper into Toretsk and occupying random buildings. The goal of these groups is to cause as much chaos and confusion as possible, stalling so that Ukraine can bring in more troops to resecure part of Toretsk. The situation is incredibly fluid right now, as these small groups, whilst catching the Russians off-guard, are also very vulnerable with no clear supply lines (right now). Russia has brought its troops back to the front and begun to counterattack, but its not certain they will be able to push Ukraine back before the retake a large portion of Toretsk. This is absolutely a serious failure by the Russian command in this area, and one that could prolong the battle for weeks, if not months.

This also means that Suriyak has the last laugh here, as despite the criticisms and most other mappers stating the battle for Toretsk is over, he refused to mark it as such and insisted that until Russia secured the outermost buildings and slag heaps then Ukraine could always push back in (stated on 19 February).

On the West side of the Pokrovsk front, Russian forces made a new advance southwest of Nadiivka, taking over another chunk of the tree plantation. This puts them in a better position to assault the village of Preobrazhenka, now having 2 treelines that run all the way down from their current positions into the settlement.

Following on from picture 9, Russian forces made significant advances across a wide area of the front, capturing the entirety of Pryvilne, most of Burlatske, and a large area of fields around these villages. Burlatske will likely fall within the next day or so, as only that northern street I mentioned earlier remains. The capture of Pryvilne also means Russia is right next to the village of Vilne Pole, so they will likely attempt an assault within the next 2 or 3 days. Even though we were only just talking about the loss of the first defence line 3 days ago, Russia is already closing in on Ukraine’s second defence line in this area, now just 2km away (dark blue line).

There was also a small Russian advance to the west of Novosilka, with a few Russian troops expanding the buffer around the village by taking over a treeline. Its unclear whether Russia intends to make an attempt on Zelene Pole (blue dot bottom left), or will just continue their attacks north.