RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1166 to 1168 of the War - Suriyakmaps

This post we’re starting on the Toretsk front, where back and forth fighting continues. Southwest of Toretsk, Russian troops tried a motorised assault on Novospaske which failed, with the survivors retreating back to Niu-York.

I won’t discuss the activity north of Toretsk here as Suriyak makes a small correction to it in picture 7.

On the south side of the Kostyantynivka front, Russia continues to exploit weaker Ukrainian lines and surveillance. Beginning on the west side, Russian troops entered Nova Poltavka, with an APC dropping off an assault group in the first buildings on the southern side. Ukraine still has a decently sized garrison here, however increased Russian FAB usage has been taking its toll.

To the east, Russian forces moved north from Zelene Pole up one of the treelines and reached the outskirts of Oleksandropil. A couple of Russian sources say they managed to gain a foothold on this day as well, however only what is shown here could be confirmed. As a reminder, Oleksandropil is the last settlement between Russia and Yablunivka to the north, through which the majority of supplies for this front travel.

Moving east again, Russian forces continue to clear the area north of Sukha Balka, now just 1.8km from Romanivka. We could see an interesting situation where the settlements on either side of Zorya (Ukraine’s hub for this front) get taken and Russia bypasses the town entirely.

On the Pokrovsk front, we continue to see smaller Russian movements across the board despite Ukrainian claims of having ‘won’ the battle. Starting on that northwest side, Russian troops were able to recapture Kotlyne, however their control is tenuous. Ukraine could counterattack at any time and resupply and reinforcing this area is difficult. They also cleared out one of the treelines east of the village, giving them a bit of a buffer.

To the south, Russia closed up the small gap between their positions in Uspenivka and the quarry to the north. This likely happened a little while ago, although there wasn’t confirmation until now.

Swinging over to the east, Russian assault groups were able to capture the last houses in Lysivka and clear out the forest area north of Dachenske. Whilst the latter has been secured, Russian control in Lysivka is fragile with Ukrainian troops barely 200m north in Sukhyi Yar.

Over on the west side of the Kurakhove front, Russia cleared a small area of fields between their positions north of Andriivka.

Heading southwest, Russian troops cleared out several fields and treelines south of Odradne as they inch closer to the settlement. Russia has begun heavily bombarding it, similar to wat they did in Rozylv and Bahatyr, so that is likely their next target.

Moving southwest again, Russian forces suddenly launched a new angle of attack, heading directly west along the main road out of Velyka Novosilka. Previous Russia had been focusing its attacks north and northwest towards Vilne Pole and Shevchenko, however with the arrival of another Russian unit (had been rotated out to rest a month or so ago, don’t have an exact ID as Russian sources are keeping quiet) they have shifted their attention straight west. They were able to capture a decently sized area of fields and treelines near the reservoir, with many reports stating they have already moved further west than this. Ukrainian sources are painting a pretty bleak picture, with both Zelene Pole and Novopil under heavy bombardment.

In the Belgorod Border area, Russian infantry continue to gradually clear the fields and treelines of the last remnants of the Ukrainian force, whilst UCAVs continue to patrol this area. I’ve already spoken about this a number of times, but Russia is intentionally taking its time here to avoid unnecessary casualties. They don’t need to rush squads in to quickly take back these border fields as they have no strategic value and they have the situation under control, so gradually clearing them one by one to save units works much better for them.

Down to the Siversk front, Russian recon groups have been trying to move through the ruins of Hryhorivka with great difficulty. As mentioned last post, the actual settlement itself is functionally unholdable, so to control this area they will need to take control of the trenches and dugouts to the south of it (hence the weird direction of movement).

Following on from picture 1, Suriyak was able to clear up the events occurring north of Toretsk. To start, Russian assault groups in Dachne were able to take most of the village as well as reach the railway line, with only a couple of houses to the north left. This puts the few Ukrainian troops still clinging to the forests around Krymske in an awkward position, although with how fluid the frontlines have been in this area that could easily change. At least group also darted across into the treeline west of the railway, which Suriyak had mistakenly said came from Krmyske in picture 1 (this is the correct, the location was right the where they started was wrong).

Ukrainian troops also tried to counterattack and gain a foothold in Krymske (again), but the results are unknown. Russia is also trying to move up the railway itself to clear out the scattered treelines/houses, but for now this is only being done by some recon troops.

Overall there is a lot of rapid movements by small groups in odd areas, as this entire front is incredibly fluid with neither side having locked down their areas of control.

Heading over the far eastern side of the Pokrovsk front, a mechanised Russian assault group joined the first that had landed in Malynivka the day before, with their forces taking a solid foothold on the eastern side of the town. They will be aiming to pressure Ukraine here with all the other simultaneous attacks, spreading their attention.

Southwest, the Russian groups that entered Myrolyubivka the previous week were confirmed to have taken over the southern houses as well, putting them in control of about 40% of the settlement. Progress here is much slower than other areas due to the proximity to Myrnohrad and the many drone operators based there.

Following on from picture 3, Ukraine was able to re-enter eastern Lysivka, despite the Russian MoD’s claim of taking the settlement. This group can obviously be driven out, but the main issue remains that neither side has been able to properly secure the settlement despite months of fighting.

Moving southwest, Russian forces captured the remainder of one of the treelines south of Novooleksandrivka, as well as moving onto the next one. A couple of Russian recon groups have started probing towards Novomykolaivka and Muravka, as Russia prepares for next battles in this area. Ignore the greyzone, as Suriyak only had this marked for the update image to make a point, however the live map still shows Ukraine control.

Further west, the Russian assault group that entered Kotlyarivka 2 days prior has now taken most of the village. This was to be expected, as the garrison was quite small and they were only holding on due to drones. Adjacent to this a couple of other Russian infantry groups have moved along the treelines south of Kotlyarivka as they head for Dnipro Oblast (2.6km away).

Following on from picture 4, Russian assault groups were confirmed to have made even more progress west of Velyka Novosilka, seizing another group of fields and treelines, as well as reaching the outskirts of Novopil. Whilst they haven’t actually tried attacking the settlement yet, they are bombarding it in preparation and will likely make their first assault after the upcoming ceasefire.

Onto the hot topic of the week, we’re back up in the Kursk border area as Ukraine launched another incursion attempt on the western side. This began on Day 1167, but Suriyak waited for further information to make this update at the end of Day 1168 (so this covers first 2 days).

Ukraine launched several infantry, mechanised and motorised attacks on 3 particular areas of the border; Tetkino itself, southeast of the town, and over near Novyi Put.

Starting with Tetkino, Ukraine has been heavily bombarding and shelling the settlement, as they tried to assault it using infantry groups on foot. From the reports we have, after 2 days of fighting Ukrainian troops were able to take the railways station and a few houses along the border, but have struggled to move much further due to stiff resistance from the Russian garrison and constant shelling/bombing (including FABs) by Russian forces. For now Russia is holding, although there sources note that they won’t last forever if Ukraine continues exerting pressure and is successful in the border area attacks.

Linked to this is the area north of Tetkino, which Suriyak has now marked as Ukrainian controlled. This part of Kursk Oblast had been in the greyzone since early into Ukraine’s Kursk offensive, as Russian troops blew the bridges and withdrew back to Tetkino. Ukraine couldn’t really ‘control’ this area as its quite boggy and sitting opposite Russian positions in houses would result in unnecessary casualties, so Ukraine avoided the area. Now they have reportedly become active here, possibly to open up another angle of attack on Tetkino, although the Seym River remains an issue.

Moving east, Ukraine made an attempt on the border line northwest of Iskryskivshchyna, trying to breach the dragon’s teeth and flank Tetkino from the east. From the reports and videos however, it does not look like they got far. Russian drones and artillery targeted these groups before they even reached the border and as they tried to break through the dragons teeth, resulting in a lot of losses (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6, video 7, video 8). This particular angle of attack seems to have ran out of momentum very quickly due to the losses, with Ukraine electing to focus on the other 2 areas for the second day.

The third and final direction of attack was towards Novyi Put, which used to be a village but was abandoned decades ago. Now if you’ve been following the war for a while, that name might sound familiar. That’s because Novyi Put was the location where Ukraine launched its attempt to cut off Russian troops in Kursk back in mid-September 2024, which despite many assaults and a lot of equipment used, failed.

Ukraine’s goal here is the same as it was back then; break through the border to Veseloe and use it as a staging point to push north to cut off a chunk of Russia by reaching the Seym River. Despite attacking the exact same area in a similar manner to 8 months ago, Ukraine had even less luck than last time. Same as with the attack around Iskryskivshchyna, Ukrainian troops were hit by drones and artillery before they reached the border and as they broke through the dragons teeth, but were unable to get much further. The suffered even more losses than the other group, with many vehicles destroyed including a number of engineering platforms (video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6, video 7, video 8, video 9, video 10, video 11, video 12, video 13, video 14, photos 1). They even tried to rush through in the night with ATVs, although were forced back by artillery.

Edit: Its actually worse than I thought, as not only is Novy Put the same area but Ukraine is using the 21st Mech here as well, which was the unit that tried to break through here last time.

For the moment Ukraine has failed to make much progress anywhere and has taken heavy casualties, however this does not mean their incursion attempt is over. Same as with Belgorod, this was likely done in order to force Russia to respond and to take troops away who would have been trying to advance in Sumy. There is also obviously the PR angle with the upcoming Victory Parade on May 9th, as well as the ceasefire.

For Russia’s part, they seem to have known this was going to happen, or were at least generally aware of a planned Ukrainian attack, as they had begun bombing Vorozhba and Billopilya (towns south of Tetkino) a couple of days prior to the attack. Both of these settlements had gone relatively unscathed despite the fighting 50km east, so for Russia to suddenly start hitting the towns where Ukraine had moved its forces into/through just days before the incursion started would heavily imply they knew ahead of time. Ukraine hadn’t even evacuated those towns before they launched the incursion, only doing so after it had begun and after they had undergone heavy bombardment.

On the Oskil River front, Russia captured a few fields and treelines west of Makiivka.

Following on from picture 6, Russian troops continue to push towards the trench networks and dugouts south of Hryhorivka, clearing and taking part of the area east of them. Progress remains difficult however.

Following on from picture 7, Russian troops were confirmed to have entrenched themselves in the treeline south of Dyliivka, likely preparing to make a move on the village.

To the southwest, Ukraine launched a counterattack into northwestern Toretsk, with a few troops moving into the first houses. The Novodzerzhinskaya mine has moved completely into the greyzone, as its unclear which side has control, if either.

Following on from picture 2, Russian assault groups were able to completely clear and secure Novoolenivka, confirming full control of the settlement. They also sent a few small groups into the trench networks south of the village, which captured them. Ukraine is having severe issues in this area establishing where the front line is and where to direct their effort, with some of their infantry being killed and wounded walking past trenches the Russians had taken, whilst one of their counterattacks fell flat on its face after they hit a mine and were unable to determine where the Russians were.

Further south Russia also started to clear the treelines and fields west of Tarasivka, as they are likely moving to capture the entire area east of the highway (provides another link to Novoolenivka).

Following on from picture 9, starting on the northern side, Russia has begun to move along the north side of the Solona River, likely heading for Novoserhiivka. They haven’t reached the village yet, but are gradually making their way along the treelines.

Southwest, Russian forces finished clearing the last few buildings in Kotlyarivka, establishing control over the settlement. This means there is now little in the way of them and Dnipro Oblast, although they will likely try expand control of this area at least a little bit before pushing west.

A little to the south, Russia recaptured the treelines north of Troitske and has launched an assault on the village. Whilst we do not have a result from that yet, they should have better luck than their first attempt due to controlling more of the area north of the settlement than before.

Following on from picture 10, Russian assault groups even more progress west of Velyka Novosilka, taking another group of fields and treelines north and south of the western road. As mentioned last post, Novosilka has almost certainly been under Russian control for weeks if not over a month, but Suriyak has only now marked it back as Russian controlled.

To go into greater detail of this direction of attack, Russia likely spotted an opportunity to make a push for Zelene Pole and Novopil whilst Ukraine’s was focusing on defending Shevchenko and Vilne Pole (northeast). They will try seize both villages and establish a buffer up to the Donetsk-Zaporizhia border, however going much further than that is questionable. Temyrivka is significant as it’s the far eastern end of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia defence line, meaning its capture would allow Russia to move behind a lot of Ukrainian defences and push further into Zaporizhia if they wish. However that also means the village is extremely fortified, with many bunkers, trench networks and minefields around it. Making an attack on Temyrivka now would not make much sense as Russia should be focusing on wrapping up the capture of west Donetsk.