RU POV: Russian advances from Day 1116 to 1118 of the War - Suriyakmaps

We’re in Kursk once again, as the last moments of the Kursk front unfold. Starting with the north side, Russian units continue to clear the fields and treelines near the border, including one such treeline within Sumy itself. Slightly south of that, Russian troops entered Gogolevka, as mentioned last update, taking over the eastern side of the village. Unlike many other settlements in Kursk, a number of sources have reported that Ukraine still has troops in Gogolevka, who are trying to stall Russia in order to buy time for their forces to reorganise back in Sumy. Some smaller clashes are occurring here and its only a matter of time before this Ukrainian force is driven back.

To the south, Russia continues to clear the forest area near the border, crossing the road end entering the next section. Russian assault groups have also entered Guevo and are clearing it out as of this day (Saturday), but control wasn’t confirmed yet, hence the greyzone.

Moving to the Oskil River front, starting on the north side, a Russian infantry group cleared out some positions in the small forest area northwest of Balka Zhuravka, as Russia gradually pushes Ukraine away from the Zherebets River.

To the southwest, a separate Russian group captured the small forest area between the two smaller spearheads, which were likely abandoned by Ukraine days prior to this advance. Straightening the front here will help Russia keep a cohesive line as it pushes northwest towards Katerynivka and Nove.

Following on from picture 1, the Russian troops that entered Guevo cleared and captured the village, as the remnants of Ukraine’s garrison headed for Gornal (bottom blue dot). Like we’ve seen for the past week and a bit, theres only small amounts of footage from this area (video 1, video 2, video 3), but many sources are aligned in reporting this advance. Similar to the group in Gogolevka, these Ukrainians are trying to stall the Russian advance, but will not be able to stop the advance to the border.

This also marks the last change in Kursk on Sunday, which if you remember my comment from last week is when I said Kursk would be almost entirely recaptured by Russia, bar some smaller areas and stragglers. At this point Ukraine only controls 68.26km2, which includes the villages of Gornal and Oleshnya next to the border, as well as part of Gogolevka. Its slightly more km2 than I expected Ukraine to still control, but its pretty close to what I estimated the front to look like by this day.

On a related note, tons more footage is coming out from Kursk, but I’ll only link a few of them such as captured vehicles (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5), and some weapons (video 1, video 2). I’ll be easing up on the Kursk videos unless they are directly related to an advance, as I believe everyone gets the point that theres a ton of drone hits, killed soldiers, captured equipment and weapons by now.

On the northern side of the Kupyansk front, over the past few days Russia has crossed the Oskil River in a third and fourth spot, as Ukraine struggles to contain these footholds/bridgeheads. These northern one of these two new crossings is east of Kamyanka, but southwest of their crossing next to the border, likely being set up in order to facilitate an eventual assault on Kamyanka. Russia will likely try combine this crossing with the border one (just 2.3km away), before wrapping around Kamyanka’s east side and launching an assault.

The other crossing sits slightly east of the village of Krasne Pershe, with small numbers of Russian infantry moving into the large forest area to take up positions. Krasne Pershe will likely fall quite quickly as it will be extremely difficult for Ukraine to defend if Russia goes through the forest, so they will likely pull back to positions further north. Control of this large forest area will also allow Russia to flank Kamyanka from the west, if the eastern assault does not work out.

This northern side of the Kupyansk front continues to be a nightmare for Ukraine, as they just do not have the forces available to deal with these Russian crossings, despite only containing small numbers of Russian infantry, meaning they are now trying to play wack-a-mole as new ones keep popping up. Their saving grace is there are still no pontoon bridges up over the Oskil here, but if Russia continues to push out then it is only a matter of time until they appear.

On the Siversk front, Russian assault groups made a minor advance north of Verkhnokamyanske, taking over another Ukrainian position in the hills. They are gradually flanking the village, however at this pace it will stake take them a while before they can try launch an assault.

On a related note, we’ve finally got some footage of the tunnel/bunker networks that litter the eastern Siversk front, which I’ve made references to numerous times in the past month. If you watch the video, you’ll understand what I mean when I say it’s a slow slog for Russia to clear out of these out.

Onto the northern side of the Chasiv Yar front, continuing from the previous update, Russia has continued advancing north of Hryhorivka, capturing the large treeline immediately north of the village, as well as beginning to make their way through the forest area north of that. It looks like Russia will try push the frontline back to the canal as they have done in other areas, which will make it much easier for them to manage as they continue advancing elsewhere on this front.

Down to the Velyka Novosilka front, Russian troops made a small advance next to Skudne, capturing part of some fields and some treelines as they position themselves for an assault on Vesele.

On the Zaporizhia front, Russian assault groups continued their attacks towards Mali Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, capturing the last fields south of those settlements and entering the first buildings of both villages. Russian attacks here have ramped up significantly over the past week, and judging by the many drone strikes on the garrisons here both villages will likely fall to Russia quickly.

Onto an area we haven’t talked about in over a year now, we’re on the eastern side of the Ocheretyne front. A Russian assault group launched an attack on some Ukrainian trench networks northwest of Novobakhmutivka, clearing and capturing them. Whether this is a one-off attack or part of yet another reactivated front is unclear at this stage, but it would not surprise me if it was.

Following on from picture 8, whilst Russian assault groups are pushing into Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, a separate set of assault groups pushed northwest from the same area, capturing a large area of fields and treelines, as well as entering and taking over the eastern half of Stepove. The Russian MoD claims they have already captured Stepove, although at the moment only this progress could be confirmed. Ukraine is counterattacking here, with clashes reported in Stepove.