RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1113 to 1115 of the War - Suriyakmaps

We’re beginning with Kursk once again, specifically central Sudzha as Russian troops have now cleared out and captured that area of the town (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5). This is a big win for Russia, particularly as the town has not been reduced to rubble as so many other settlements have due to intense, months long battles. Russian forces are now moving into Goncharovka and Zaoleshensky, which will both likely be cleared of the last remnants of Ukrainian troops within the next day or so.

At this point in time the majority of Ukrainian troops (who survived) have now left Kursk, so its only smaller isolated groups and hiding soldiers remaining. It will take Russia some time for Russia to properly clear and secure the area, as there are a lot of buildings to check, but there is no chance for Ukraine to recover the situation and so we can say we have reached the end of Ukraine’s Kursk operation.

Over the past week on the southern side of the Siversk front and northern side of the Chasiv Yar front Russia has launched a number of smaller attack, becoming more active in areas that have seen minimal fighting. Starting with the northeast side, Russian troops entered Vasyukivka from the south, taking up positions in the outermost houses, whilst another small group cleared out a defence point along the road next to Sakko I Vantsetti. Despite having sat less than a km away from the village since early 2023, this is the first time Russia has actually entered Vasyukivka, so it will be interested to see how the battle plays out. For now this is quite the small group, so unless Ukraine’s garrison is equally small they are unlikely to make much progress.

Moving southwest, Russian troops made a tiny advance in Orikhovo Vasylivka, capturing a couple more houses and a warehouse in the centre of the village. Despite control being split between the sides little fighting has actually occurred here, as the village is quite small and unimportant compared to other strong points in the surrounding area.

Going southwest again, around Hryhorivka, Russia has also made some minor advances, taking over a small forest area and part of the hill north of the village. Same as with Orikhovo Vasylivka, the settlement itself has seen little fighting, but the surrounding area has seen much more activity.

For now I would consider these one-off advances, but it has to be noted that the Siversk front is becoming more active recently than it has been since mid-2023.

In Toretsk, the back and forth clashes amidst Ukrainian infiltration attempts continue. Despite Russia hitting many of these groups (video 1, video 2) some of them are getting through and have pushed further into the town, such as this advance on the southern side. Its incredibly difficult to actually establish the front line here as every building is not manned, so there are Ukrainian troops behind some Russian positions, but also some Russian positions in areas Ukraine has passed by. The situation is very fluid and could flip in either sides favour.

To the south, Ukraine made a minor advance east of Panteleimonivka, recapturing part of some treelines. They aren’t counterattacking here, just moving back into an area that Russian recon troops no longer hold.

Over to the Zaporizhia front, where there has been a number of interesting developments over the past couple of days. Starting with the west side, Russia continued to recapture some of the areas they lost in Kamyanske in late December, with the same infantry group mentioned last update taking over a few more houses and buildings near the central road. They’ll continue to move through this area until they hit greater resistance, at which point they will need further support (whether it be artillery + drones or more assault teams) before they can move on.

The main area of interest was to the east, around Mali Shcherbaky. Following their capture of Pyatykhatky 2 weeks prior, Russian units in this area became more active, actively probing Ukrainian lines. Having scouted the area and weakened Ukrainian troops here (video 1, video 2), the Russians launched an attack started 3 days ago, quickly capturing a large area of fields and treelines. They are currently working on Ukrainian positions in Mali Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, and will almost certainly begin assaulting either of those villages within the next week. For once, this is NOT just an opportunistic attack, as it looks like Russian command have decided to at least partially reactivate the Zaporizhia front. This isn’t an offensive, and theres currently no signs of there being on in the short term, however it possible Russia is laying the groundwork for further offensive operations in this area once we get to Summer.

Following on from picture 1, Russian clearing operations in Kursk continue. Starting on the northeastern side, Russian units completed their cleanup of Zaoleshenka and Goncharovka, as well as the fields to the north, meaning greater Sudzha has now been entirely recaptured. They are also starting to move into Rubanshchina, with clearing operations beginning by the end of Thursday, so that village will likely be captured by tomorrow. With Sudzha secured Russian media have been rolling in, giving us more footage of what the town currently looks like (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5).

Moving south, with most Ukrainian troops gone Russia was able to clear the fields, treelines and forest areas around Melovoi farm. They also cleared out the larger forest area southwest of Kurilovka, and have even sent a few troops up the treelines towards Oleshnya, in order to clear that village out too. We’ll likely see more of these fields and forest areas cleared over the next few days as Russian troops make their way through.

We’ve also got a lot more footage coming out from the past few days of the retreat from Kursk, as Russian drone operators had an enormous amount of targets and have been continually releasing the clips (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6). We’re also getting better aftermath footage of previous strikes now that the Russians are on the ground and their drone operators are much closer (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5).

Over the border in Sumy, despite the collapse in Kursk Russia is continuing its attacks on Basivka, and has now established a foothold in the town and the treeline leading down from Novenke. Clashes are ongoing in central Basivka, but due to a lack of information it is hard to tell which side is coming out on top.

On the Pokrovsk front, Ukrainian assault groups made more progress in their counterattack in Shevchenko, looping around the west side to take over the centre and southern parts of the town. Heavy clashes are ongoing, and there is a lot of drones and artillery being used by both sides here.

On the north side of the Kupyansk front, over the past few days Ukraine counterattacked north of Dvorichna, recapturing the village of Fyholivka. The remaining Russian troops here have pulled back into the adjacent forest area and treelines, and we may see a renewed Russian attack if Ukraine cannot secure the perimeter around the settlement.

Heading to the Velyka Novosilka front, Russia made a minor advance north of the town, capturing the last little chunk of fields south of one of the streams in the area.

Following on from picture 5, Russian troops finished clearing Rubanshchina, and are now moving onto Gogolevka. Same as with the other areas, Ukraine had already abandoned the village so not much of note occurred during the cleanup.

For once I do actually have a bit of an update on the southern area of Kursk around Guevo. From a number of reports, Russia has moved into the settlement and is clearing it now, as well as some of the adjacent forest areas. The reason it took so long to get any information from there is due to Russia focusing the majority of its forces on taking the main section of Kursk (around Sudzha), including drone operators, leaving not enough troops to try take on Guevo at the same time. Add in that Guevo and Gornal did not face the supply issues that hindered Ukraine in the rest of Kursk, and this area was always going to take longer to capture. Like the rest of Kursk, Ukraine has pulled the majority of its remaining forces from here, which struck as they left (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5). We should start to get more information about this area in the coming days.

As for the rest of Kursk, Russia continues to clear the remaining areas and has begun their cleanup of the territory they’ve recaptured. We’ve got more POW videos (video 1, video 2, video 3), with Russian officials claiming they have captured 430 Ukrainians in the Kursk collapse so far. We’re also being shown the large amount of equipment (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6), ammunition (video 1, video 2, video 3), and gear that Russia has captured, including a functioning M777 (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4), easily disproving the Ukrainian claim that this was an orderly, intentional retreat. I’ll also note that Ukraine is not just sitting idle here, and has been using artillery and bombs on Sudzha and the surrounding area to try hit Russian troops (video 1, video 2).

Northeast of Toretsk, a small Russian group crossed the canal west of Ozarianivka, taking up positions in a trench line on the other side. A minor advance, but an indication that Russia is at least considering trying to push west from this area.

Suriyak has highlighted Dachne as for some reason Russia claims it controls the village, although there is no evidence confirming that.

Following on from picture 6, during the heavy clashes Russia was able to drive back Ukrainian assault groups in Shevchenko, reestablishing control of the southern and central areas of the town. The battle is far from over, as those clashes continue and both sides are hitting each other hard (video 1, video 2).

To the west, after Ukraine recaptured Uspenivka a week and a half ago, Russia renewed its attacks, breaking back into the village and recapturing 2/3 of the settlement. Heavy clashes are ongoing here and there is always the chance that Russia could be pushed out once again, so I would say the battle is far from over.

Following on from picture 4, starting in the centre, Russian troops moved west of Pyatykhatky and captured the forest area, where Ukrainian soldiers were holding a small dugout/trench network. With that cleared, most of the area south of the stream should come under Russian control, and they can start thinking about crossed over into Lobkove.

East of here, Russia continued closing in on Mali Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, taking over the treelines southwest of the former, whilst beginning the assault on the latter. Whilst most of the buildings in both villages have long since been destroyed, its still an important area for Russia to capture as it opens the way for further advances into the large fields to the north and east of here. Ukraine has its forward Zaporizhia defence line about 3.5km north of Shcherbaky, so they have positions they can retreat to if they lose this area.