RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1109 and 1110 of the War - Suriyakmaps

You know the drill, we are in Kursk as the collapse of the front continues from the previous update. A lot of this I covered in a comment on the previous post, but with much more evidence coming out so we can discuss it in more detail. In short, Russian units have begun attacking on every side of Kursk, and Ukrainian troops are chaotically trying to retreat back to Sudzha so they can try escape over the border.

Beginning on the north side, the Russian assault on Malaya Loknya began, although some recon groups likely entered the settlement the night before. They were confirmed to have taken over the northern side (as of Saturday afternoon), and were clearing out the remaining buildings as they quickly pushed south through the settlement. As mentioned previously, some of the garrison tried to flee south to Sudzha on foot, due to the lack of transports caused by Russian drone strikes on any travelling to Malaya Loknya (video 1, video 2, video 3), whilst others simply stayed in place waiting to surrender or to fight to the death. There was no planned evacuation or defence strategy, only an ‘every man for himself’ situation.

At the same time we started to get videos from the settlements around Malaya Loknya filmed in the days leading up to the collapse, showing what happened to the soldiers in Staraya Sorochina, Nikolaevka, Viktorovka and Nikolskii (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4).

To the southwest of here, the Russian 1427th Motor Rifle Regiment began to assault Kositsa, as the Ukrainian garrison fled. Whilst a couple of them were caught in the village, most reportedly fled into the forests to the south overnight, so the Russian forces here are just clearing the remaining buildings.

Over the river, at the same time as the above, the Russian 30th Motor Rifle Regiment began their assault of Cherkasskoe Porechnoe. Some Ukrainian soldiers tried to flee, however a significant portion of the garrison (80th Air Assault Brigade) were caught in the settlement as Russia rapidly overwhelmed them, taking many POWs (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6, video 7). Having confirmed control of the Cherkasskoe Porechnoe, the Russian troops started clean up operations whilst some of them continued on southwest to Pravda.

Suriyak has also marked the large area of fields, treelines houses to the east of Cherkasskoe Porechnoe as Russian controlled with this advance. In all likelihood Berdin and Novosotnitskii have been under Russian control since a few days after Ukraine tried to start an offensive in early January, however for whatever reason he did not update the map until now. Regardless, it is up to date now, and a Russian mechanised group was spotted heading along the main road to assault Martynovka (were no updates here as of Saturday afternoon).

I will also mention that the Russian gas pipe operation began this day, with a group of Russian soldiers suddenly appearing behind Ukrainian lines in the fields north of Sudzha, however I will expand on this in picture 4.

Onto a much quieter area, we’re back to the Siversk front as Russian troops continue their gradual push that has been ongoing for a few weeks now. Russian infantry managed to clear the remaining dugouts and trenches west of the chalk quarry, effectively securing it and allowing them to move west into Donetsk Oblast. Progress here will still be slow as this area is absolutely littered with numerous trenches, dugouts, and tunnel networks built up over the past 2 years, which will need to be cleared 1 by 1.

Southwest of this advance, Russia also made a small advance west of the border, taking over part of some fields and a few defensive positions in the hills north of Verkhnokamyanske (off map south). This area has traded hands several times over the past 4 months, so we’ll have to wait and see if Russia can hold it this time.

Moving to the Kurakhove front, after several weeks of fighting Russian assault groups have taken full control over Kostyantynopil, capturing the settlement. If you are wondering how it progressed so quick when just 4 days ago Russia only controlled the easternmost street of the town; most of the fighting over the settlement was positional, with both sides trying to establish or maintain control over the western road (only supply road for Ukraine). Russia employed numerous drones to bomb out Ukrainian positions in the houses before moving in themselves, and because Ukraine was unable to bring in reinforcements or supplies (due to Russia hitting anything that tried to reach the town) the garrison eventually buckled, and either fled or were wiped out.

From here, Russia will likely reorganise for a few days, before moving on to assault Rozlyv (southwest of Kostyantynopil). That village is in quite the awkward spot, as its only supplies come from the road to the north, which Russia can occupy if they push west out of Kostyantynopil. Thus it will be very difficult for Ukraine to hold Rozlyv for long.

Following on from picture 1, the Kursk collapse gains speed. Starting with the north side once again, the previously mentioned assault groups quickly dismantled the scattered resistance in Malaya Loknya, clearing and capturing the settlement by the early afternoon on Sunday (video 1, video 2). No sooner had the battle ended before Russian engineer crews got to work, clearing roads, assessing destroyed and disabled vehicles, and even capturing an intact M1A1SA Abrams tank.

To the southwest, Russian paratroopers from Lebedevka moved northeast, clearing Loknya and its farm, as well as the fields and part of the railway line. This group is also moving down south, heading towards Yuzhnyi.

Further east, the previously discussed Russian 1427th Motor Rifle Regiment finished clearing Kositsa and the forest areas west of the village, and are now also moving south towards Yuzhnyi. There are some random pockets of Ukrainian soldiers in this forest, however they will either be wiped out by the Russians or retreat into Sudzha before the end of the day.

Moving south, the assault groups that headed into Pravda after the capture of Cherkasskoe Porechnoe have also captured that village, and are making their way into Ivashkovksii. This occurred with minimal effort as the bulk of Ukraine’s forces on this section of the front were in Cherkasskoe Porechnoe, who as I mentioned before were either captured, wiped out, or retreated towards Sudzha. Thus Pravda was empty, although there are reportedly some Ukrainian soldiers stuck in Ivashkovskii. A separate Russian group from Cherkasskoe Porechnoe also headed east and cleared out the large farm in the fields.

Onto the most talked about event, we have the Russian gas pipeline operation, which took place the day before but its results could not be confirmed until late Sunday. Whilst most people are already aware of the details, for a quick explainer; theres a large series of gas pipelines travelling through this area, heading from the northeast (north of Kurglik) towards the gas metering/transit station next to the Ukrainian Border. This pipeline goes under the fields, and skirts slightly north of Sudzha, between 2-Y Knyazhiy and 1-Y Knyazhiy (you should be able to spot the gap). The gas transit arrangement between Russia and Ukraine was not renewed, and thus no more gas has travelled through these pipes since 1 January 2025.

The Russians planned an operation to get a number of soldiers deep behind enemy lines, cutting open a hole in some of the pipes somewhere north or northeast of Kruglik so that these soldiers could travel between 12 to 17km before exiting next to the railway line north of Sudzha. We now have a number of pictures and videos reportedly from the pipes, which give us a decent idea of what these soldiers had to deal with the reach their target destination (video 1, video 2, video 3, photo 1, photo 2). Overnight Saturday an unknown number of them made their way out of the pipes, moving into the treelines next to the railway. Ukraine did spot and hit some of these soldiers, claiming to kill the majority of them, however given these soldiers continued on both north to occupy Kubatkin and south to take up positions in the Sudzha industrial area, this is most likely false.

Whilst this operation was not the cause for the Kursk front collapse, it did create a lot of confusion for Ukrainian troops who were already scrambling to retreat and suddenly found that Russian infantry occupied positions behind their own lines or far further forward than they were the day before. These pipe soldiers capturing Kubatkin led to some Ukrainian troops being effectively encircled in Ivashkovskii (river in forest with no crossings), as well as providing Russia a foothold in the industrial area before the larger force arrived.

That larger force was the one that came from Martynovka. Going back a bit, the day before a Russian mechanised assault group (likely Akhmat) headed down the R200 highway and entered Martynovka. Like with Cherkasskoe Porechnoe, the Russians were able to rapidly overwhelm the Ukrainian garrison and captured the settlement. At least part of the Ukrainian troops who were in Martynovka had fled the night before in a column of cars, although they ran into issues due to not knowing that the bridge between the 2 sides of Sudzha had been knocked out a few days prior. These troops had to ditch their vehicles and walk across, with the Russians striking the abandoned column shortly after (video 1, video 2). The Russian grouping also cleared out Mikhailovka and the fields nearby early the next day, before continuing their push along the highway into eastern Sudzha, joining up with the soldiers from the gas pipes.

This joint group quickly expanded their control, taking over a number of industrial buildings and some houses to the east of the railway. There were some small clashes occurring in this area as Russia expands their control, but these reportedly died down as Ukrainian troops retreated west. This Russian grouping will continue clearing eastern Sudzha, as well as nearby Mirnyi and Bondarevka.

Southeast, a smaller Russian group has begun to move out of Russkaya Konopelka towards Agronom (likely abandoned). Suriyak has only marked a bit of the fields as changing hands for now, as this information came through pretty late, however they will almost certainly take Agronom by the next day.

Moving south, another Russian unit (likely the 11th Air Assault Brigade) began to assault Makhnovka and the surrounding area, recapturing about half of the village/suburb and a chunk of the fields around Cherkasskaya Konopelka. Like with the other areas, aside from some scattered/isolated Ukrainian soldiers, these areas were mostly abandoned during the retreat. This group will continue clearing buildings and moving north, although may run into problems once they hit the Sudzha River next to Zamoste.

On a related note, I have to mention the enormous number of strikes Russia is carrying out as the front collapses. Its no secret that Ukraine was already struggling with supplying Kursk due to drones, but with so many units moving around and retreating, plus Russia shrinking the front, the casualties and equipment losses have skyrocketed. Breaking them down into categories:

The re-emergence of Russian UCAVs like the Orion and Forpost. UCAVs are rarely seen due to how vulnerable they are to AA systems (being very big and not particularly manoeuvrable), however Ukraine’s AA in Kursk and neighbouring Sumy has been degraded to such an extent that Russia has been able to use them across the front. This started about a week ago (video 1, video 2), but has ramped up now with strikes on groups of retreating Ukrainians (video 1, video 2), with there even being strikes on equipment 10km into Sumy. The big difference between these and the usual FPV drone hits is that Orions and Forposts carry multiple munitions, each with a much larger warhead, has much better optics, and can loiter over an area for far longer.

FABs, Artillery, Lancets are also seeing some usage, typically for strikes on equipment or infantry, although there have also been some big hits like this FAB strike on a bridge leading to Sudzha.

FPV drones, already seeing enormous usage in Kursk, have reached a peak never seen before, with numerous strikes all over the place from within Sudzha (video 1, video 2, video 3) to soldiers trying to flee Kursk (video 1, video 2). They are making it incredibly difficult for Ukraine to get its force out, as any vehicles trying to make a break for the border along the remaining supply road are inevitably hit (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4).

Between all of these Ukraine will be able to get some of its equipment and troops out of Kursk, but they will undoubtably take many casualties and lose much of their gear.

To the Kupyansk front, Ukraine launched a counterattack through the forest north of the town over the past 2 days, recapturing a number of positions they had lost last year. For now this attack was quite limited, mainly taking advantage of poorly defended Russian positions, but Ukraine may allocate greater forces if they believe they can make more progress.

On the far eastern side of the Pokrovsk front, Russian troops made a small advance north of Baranivka, capturing 2 treelines. At the same time the first Russian recon troops entered Tarasivka (north of this advance), as the battle for the village begins.

On the Pokrovsk front, Ukraine continues to counterattack in multiple areas. Starting with the northwest side, they recaptured most of the fields north of the railway, as they position themselves for yet another attempt to retake Kotlyne.

To the southeast, heavy clashes are ongoing in Shevchenko. Ukraine brought in more forces, who were able to make more progress on the east side of the town, although the centre remains highly contested. We’ll have to wait and see if Ukraine can continue this pace to capture the entirety of the town, or if it loses steam out like their previous attempt in neighbouring Pishchane.

On the Velyka Novosilka front, after over a week of counterattacks Ukraine has managed to retake the fields north of Burlatske. Russian troops are currently holding the village, and Ukraine is trying to drive them out before they can fortify their positions and dig in. No fighting has actually taken place in Burlatske from this counterattack yet.