RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1238 to 1240 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Once again we start a post off in Kursk around Tetkino. Continuing on from their recent success in driving Ukraine out of the town, Russian forces pushed out and have cleared the fields and treelines up to the international border. The few trenches and dugouts here were likely empty, abandoned when Ukraine had to move its units to the other part of Sumy, so it was just a matter of checking for stragglers. Ukraine can always try cross into Kursk again here, but they’d be back at square one and would require another months long campaign if they wanted to capture the town.

One Russian group also crossed into the neighbouring village of Ryzhivka in Sumy, although I do not expect much to come from this. They may take the village, as these border settlements are always difficult to defend, but the Russian priority will be reestablishing the dragons teeth and minefields to resecure its borderline around Tetkino.

Over on the northern front, Russian infantry groups continue to gradually expand out from their new push into Kharkiv, capturing a couple of small forest areas and some treelines. They are starting to approach the village of Ambarne, but are not quite ready to assault it.

To the southeast, Russia cleared out the remaining section of a treeline along the road north of Krasne Pershe. Other than that, minimal activity on this part of the front.

On the east side of the Kupyansk front, over the span of a few days Russia has moved out from Stepova Novoselivka, trying to expand the buffer around the village. Their positions here are quite fragile and Ukraine frequently makes attempts to try push back into the settlement.

Onto the Oskil River front, Russian forces continue their campaign to capture the last chunk of Luhansk Oblast west of the Zherebets River. This time they have cleared out a few treelines east of Hrekivka and are starting to secure the flanks of the village.

Heading onto Chasiv Yar, south of the town Russia was finally able to resecure the last couple of buildings on the south side of Stupochky, which have been in the greyzone due to the constant Ukrainian counterattacks. Whilst the Ukrainians were never able to retake Stupochky, it has kept Russia from trying to move onto Predtechyne until now. I expect Ukraine will not cease its efforts to counterattack and will try keep Russia pinned here, even if they can’t make any progress.

Over on the Kostyantynivka front, starting on the north side, a Russian assault group managed to enter the eastern side of Rusyn Yar, where clashes are taking place. They also slightly expanded their control of a treeline to the east, along a small stream. Their goal here is likely to try take Rusyn Yar so they can flank Poltavka, which they were unable to capture during their assault a month ago.

To the west, on the east side of the Pokrovsk front, Russian troops slightly expanded their foothold west of Razine, taking over part of a treeline and several dugouts. They are still trying to build up their forces in this area so they can make a push on Rodynske, with heavy FAB and artillery usage also reported.

On the opposite side of the Pokrvosk front, at least one Russian group managed to push up the treeline west of Udachne, reaching the outskirts of the town. Russia is trying to aid its third attempt to capture the settlement by also attacking from the west side, as the east side has been bogged down due to constant drone strikes.

We will have to wait and see if they are able to make any progress there, as Ukraine has several good units in this area and many drone teams which have denied Russia progress around Udachne for months now.

Onto the Velyka Novosilka front, where some Russian troops managed to move several km up the main road towards Andriivka-Klevtsove, using the treelines as cover. This push is mostly due to the weak/poorly defended lines in this area, as Ukraine has been having severe issues manning the front and with supplies. The latter has been getting worse, as the Russians took out the bridge in Andriivka-Klevtsove 2 weeks ago and have started trying to bomb the bridges in Velykomykhailivka (next nearest bridges), restricting supply to everything east of the Vovcha River.

To the south, following their capture of Myrne last week, Russian forces continued to push north from Shevchenko and west from Myrne, clearing out the remaining trenches to the east and taking over most of Voskresenka over the span of a week. However, the Russian assault groups did not yet have the chance to properly secure the settlement, providing Ukraine an opportunity to push back (see picture 18).

Heading back up to the northern front, this time in Vovchansk, where over the past 2 weeks Russia has launched a new series of attacks. They gradually began moving small numbers of infantry over the Vovcha River south of Hatyshche, before moving out and trying to clear the forest areas. One Russian assault group also crossed the river within Vovchansk itself and has entered the oil extraction plant, where they are trying to gain a foothold.

Whilst Vovchansk has been heavily damaged by the fighting over the past year, it is a misconception to say the town is levelled. Most of the photos and videos of buildings reduced to rubble are from the centre of the town, which saw the most fighting, with both Russia and Ukraine bombarding it. The other parts of the town are heavily damaged but still have their buildings standing, including the oil extraction plant Russia are trying to take.

To be clear, this isn’t a new offensive or major attack, but Russia trying to see if Ukrainian lines here are weak enough where they could start a new attempt to capture Vovchansk.

Following on from picture 4, the same Russian troops mentioned earlier have continued to clear the area east of Hrekivka, capturing several fields and a larger treeline. The area east of this advance near the Zherebets River is now in a small pocket, with the handful of Ukrainian troops there likely to be forced to withdraw in the coming days/weeks.

Onto the Siversk front, where over the past 10 days there have been a number of attacks and counterattacks. Russia was unable to hold onto the positions near the outskirts of Siversk, where Ukraine forcing them to retreat back towards Verkhnokamyanske.

Slightly north of that, Ukraine counterattacked and managed to recapture a couple of positions north of Verkhnokamyanske.

At the same time as this, within Verkhnokamyanske Russia managed to secure the westernmost houses of the settlement (again), as well as clear out some of the fields south of the town. Verkhnokamyanske is still quite vulnerable, so it would not be surprising if Ukraine managed to get back into the town once again.

North of Toretsk, over the past few Ukraine counterattacked the Russian positions around the quarry, managed to recapture a couple of trenches and reestablish control over the Novodzerzhinskaya Mine. If they can manage to completely drive Russia back from this area they will alleviate some of the supply issues to this part of the front, which will allow them to hold this area for longer.

Following on from picture 6, to the north, Russian assault groups managed to capture the last few buildings in Boikivka, establishing control over the village. Next to them, a different Russian group cleared out most of the remaining buildings in central Novotoretske, leaving just the northern street to clear before capturing the settlement. They also cleared and captured the line of small trenches east of Novotoretske, following weeks of Russian bombardment

To the south, Russian forces captured the remaining houses on the northermost street of Novoekonomichne, with the rest of the town sitting on the opposite side of a stream. East and southeast of that, with fighting now moving into Novoekonomichne Ukraine lost control of the remaining fields and treelines east of the Kazenyi Torets River, with Russia clearing them out over the past week.

They also assaulted Mykolaivka, with Russian troops quickly moving through the village. Suriyak has marked it as entirely Russian controlled, although there is some confusion about whether the Russian soldiers actually cleared all the buildings and secured their positions or had to retreat. This should be cleared up in the coming days.

As for Myrolyubivka, the situation is also unclear there. Ukrainian troops haven’t been seen in the town since they started to lose ground after their counterattack a few weeks back, but the Russians also aren’t necessarily in the village either. As such it has been marked as greyzone until the actual situation on the ground becomes clearer.

Following on from picture 7, Russian forces began moving up 2 other treelines south of Udachne. It is not yet clear whether they have entered the town from the west side yet.

To the east, a Russian infantry group cleared out some dugouts northeast of Shevchenko. It is highly unlikely they will try enter Pokrovsk at this time, so will probably fall back to the town or try to move towards Novoukrainka.

Following on from picture 8, on the east side, Russian troops secured a number of fields and treelines between Horikhove and Oleksiivka, as they try to level out the front into Dnipro Oblast.

To the west, one Russian group crossed the Vovcha River west of Dachne, entering a small forest area on the other side.

Moving west again, Russian assault groups were confirmed to have cleared and captured Novokhastkse over the past few days, confirming full control of the village. They are already trying to move onto Zelenyi Hail, taking over a few treelines west of Novokhatske.

Heading up to the Sumy front, with Ukraine’s counterattack into Kindrativka from the west side stalling out (primarily due to Russian shelling), they have launched a new series of attacks to the east to try encircle or at least cut off the Russian garrison. Ukrainian troops moved from Andriivka up the treelines east of Kindrativka and are trying to reach the reservoir. Russia is trying to bomb and drone this group to prevent the garrison from being cut off, so we will have to wait and see if this Ukrainian group are successful.

All the way over to the southeast, a small Ukrainian group crossed into Kursk, taking over a mini-forest area west of the village of Kucherov. Much like the other small border crossings by both sides, the goal isn’t to make an advance but to force a reaction from the other side (in this case Russia) so those troops can be targeted.

Back to the Kostyantynivka and Pokrovsk fronts, on the west side, Russian assault groups made further progress within Yablunivka, having finally cracked the Ukrainian garrison after weeks of clashes. They have pushed into the east side of the town and are trying to reach the Bychok River to force a complete Ukrainian withdrawal (les they be encircled).

To the east, Russia made another minor advance north of Dyliivka, taking over a treeline.

Following on from picture 15, the first Russian assault group has entered Zelenyi Hai, taking over a couple of houses on the eastern side. They are currently trying to expand their foothold and reinforce so they can take over the small town.

To the southeast, Ukraine crossed back over the Vovcha River with a small number of infantry, pushing back into and recapturing the small village of Yalta. The Russians do not looks to have had a garrison present in Yalta at all, with most of their troops preoccupied with the push west, leaving the opening for Ukraine to exploit. Ukraine is unlikely to be able to hold Yalta for long, as Russia will be able to bomb/drone the few troops there and force a retreat, before sending in an assault group, but it does waste their time.

To the southwest, before Russia could secure their positions in Voskresenka, Ukraine counterattacked and drove them to the outskirts of the settlement, reestablishing control of most of the village. Russia is currently trying to push back into Voskresenka, so clashes are ongoing.

From Pictutre 12