RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1135 to 1138 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Starting off in Toretsk for this post, continuing on closely after the previous day where Russia looks to have turned the situation in the town around. Starting on the south side, Russian troops were confirmed to have cleared the remaining buildings in the south of Toretsk of infiltration groups, re-establishing control of the district. Once Russia recovered from the initial shock of Ukraine’s attacks and started locking down routes into the town with drones it simply became too difficult for Ukraine to reinforce or resupply these infiltration groups, meaning the ones already in southern Toretsk were just picked off and wiped out over time. Ukraine could always try infiltrate this area again, but with Russia in a much more prepared state this time it is highly unlikely to be successful.

In the north of the town, Ukraine’s infiltration groups near the stadium are gradually being squeezed out by Russian strikes and assaults, and so are reportedly pulling back. There is no confirmation of a change in control though, so the map remains the same for now.

On the west side of the Kurakhove front, with Russia capturing Rozlyv 2 days prior, their forces have continued to push on, increasing the buffer around the village and capturing the petrol station along the main road. They have also significantly stepped up their bombing and droning of Bahatyr, and will be looking to repeat their success in Rozlyv their.

Slightly north, Russia was also confirmed to have completely recaptured Kostyantynopil (which likely happened days ago), as well as capture a couple of the fields west of the town.

On the other side of the Vovcha River Russia launched a large mechanised assault towards Oleksiivka. The Ukrainian video of this assault group is heavily edited/cut up so its difficult to tell what actually occurred (as usual), however its clear they took losses and did not reach Oleksiivka. The assault does however confirm that Russia is in control of the western edge of Andriivka, which they had reportedly withdrawn from a week ago due to a Ukrainian counterattack. Russia will definitely make another attempt on Oleksiivka, however they’ll need to plan it better and take over the treelines/fields inbetween first if they want it to be successful.

To the southwest, on the Velyka Novosilka front, over several days of clashes Russian assault groups captured Vesele, securing the village and one of the adjacent trenches. The surviving Ukrainian garrison has withdrawn to Fedorivka, which will be the next target for this Russian group. They’ll need to capture the trench networks west and northwest of Vesele if they want to secure their flank, however there aren’t actually any defences inbetween Vesele and Fedorivka, so Russia can make a direct assault on the village if they want to.

On the Zaporizhia front, having captured Lobkove a few days prior, Russia has started to secure its flanks, capturing a few fields and treelines to the west of the village. There were some smaller attempts by Ukraine to counterattack and re-enter Lobkove, however they failed.

In Sumy, Russian troops captured the last houses in Basivka, confirming full control of the village. This is the 2nd settlement in Sumy that Russia now controls, however it will be quite difficult for Russia to move into Loknya due to the open ground they will have to cover.

On the northern side of the Kupyansk front, having captured the right bank of the Oskil river here a few days prior, Russian infantry have now begun moving in Kamyanka, taking over the first set of buildings on the southern side. For now there are only a few infantry, but because Ukraine’s garrison is quite small they are facing minimal resistance, only drones.

To refresh your memory, the reason why Kamyanka is important to this front is it’s a small town that sits on the closest land supply route to Russian troops in Dvorichna. Capturing it and pushing the front line back a few km would allow Russia to bring in supplies, vehicles and equipment from over the border, significantly easing logistics in this area.

Following on from the previous picture, the next day the Russian infantry that entered Kamyanka continued to expand their control, seizing the next group of buildings as well as one of the treelines east of the small town

Moving to the Oskil River front, Russian forces continue to close in on Katerynivka, seizing several fields, treelines and one trench network along the Oblast border. There was also a minor advance north of Novolyubivka, as another small Russian infantry group heads north in that area.

Slightly west, a separate Russian assault group took control over the last trench network on this side of Nove, before entering the outskirts of the small town. A week ago I had stated that Russia was targeting Katerynivka first, due to the direction of their advance and shelling distribution, however it now looks like they’ve split their attention between the two settlements, and intend to assault both Nove and Katerynivka simultaneously.

Over to the Siversk front, back in mid-March there was a small Russian infantry group that entered the outskirts of Vasyukivka. With no reports from that area in 3 weeks, and no other indication that Russia is assaulting the settlement, Suriyak has reverted that area back to Ukrainian control. Whether this small group was wiped out or simply retreated is unknown, as there just hasn’t been any footage or reports to identify what happened, but the lack of any reports indicates that no assault is happening at the very least.

Following on from picture 1, in central Toretsk there has been several changes in control over the residential area. Going from west to east, Russia re-entered the industrial facility next to the small slag heap, as they gradually push north towards the next slag heap. Slightly east, Ukrainian troops managed to recapture a couple of streets of houses behind their existing positions near the stadium. However at the same time as this Russian troops pushed out of the Krymske mine and recaptured a different set of residential streets north of the stadium.

As you can probably see, despite Russia regaining the initiative the situation is still quite fluid. Any Ukrainian troops still near the stadium are at risk of being cut off if Russia continues to push west.

Heading to Chasiv Yar, a Russian assault group made a small amount of progress in the central area, capturing more of the buildings in the train depot. The highrise section of Chasiv Yar is still an utter mess, with both sides heavily dug in and essentially unable to move due to all the drones and shelling. I would go as far as to say that its become similar to Vovchansk, where the colours no longer indicate ‘control’ but rather ‘where troops have likely been’.

On a related note, last post I added an additional comment discussing Ukraine’s significantly increased activity and counterattacks in and around Chasiv Yar. This has continued, with multiple Ukrainian brigades reportedly being brought to Kramatorks and Druzhkivka as part of a new grouping (the one with 3 arrows pointing up inside a box). This has led to a sharp increase in Ukrainian vehicle losses as there are simply many more of them in the area (video 1, video 2, video 3), the majority not engaged in combat but hidden in positions away from the front. These grouping being set up and a lot of equipment being brought to the area (on top of the many units already deployed on this front) would indicate that Ukraine is preparing for a large counterattack to try reverse the situation in Chasiv Yar. There is no concrete information on whether this will actually occur, however there are simply far too many reports, pieces of footage and strikes for this new grouping sign to be a coincidence.

Moving to the Pokrovsk front, there has been a lot of movement in several areas over the past few days. Starting on the northeast side, Russian troops were shown to have advanced in eastern Lysivka, taking over the a chunk of the street north of the stream (again). The central of Lysivka has gone back into the Greyzone, whilst Ukraine maintains positions in Sukhyi Yar and western Lysivka. Its unlikely much will come out of this advance, as the battle for Lysivka has been a constant back and forth for months now, and will likely continue to be for the near future.

Over to the northwest side, Russian troops were able to push Ukraine back from southern Kotlyne, with the front line now sitting along the railway. The situation remains quite tense, with frequent clashes reported.

To the south, Russian forces recaptured all of Solone following a Ukrainian group entering the village a week ago. Not much is known about their fate, but given the constant drone strikes on them its likely they fell back due to casualties and a lack of troops.

Adjacent to this, Russia secured the farm next to Uspenivka and cleared out the couple of houses on the south side of the village. The latter is where 1 Ukrainian group on an M113 tried to break back into the village, however were wiped out before they could properly take positions. As I said last time, until Russia moves onto Novooleksandrivka, Uspenivka cannot be considered truly secure as counterattacks could occur at any time.

Heading over to the Velyka Novosilka front, over the past few days Russian assault groups made several advances west of Burlatske, taking control of a number of fields, treelines and one trench network, as well as reaching the outskirts of Shevchenko. Russia hasn’t entered the small town yet, however given their positions they will likely attempt their first assault in the coming days. Clashes also continue to the south in Vilne Pole, however there are no updates on territorial control.

For a related fact, the area this advance took place in is where part of Ukraine’s Lithium reserves are. Ukraine reportedly has 500,000 tons of Lithium across 4 deposits, with Shevchenko being 1 of the 4. Of the remaining 3, 2 are in central Ukraine west of the Dnieper River, and one is in Zaporizhia Oblast near the Sea of Azov (RU control). Given the debates and arguments over the U.S-Ukraine minerals deal, Russia being about to seize the second of 4 Lithium deposits will certainly pop up in talks.