RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1251 to 1254 of the War - Suriyakmaps

This time our first update is on the northern front, where Russia opened up a new area of fighting earlier this month. Ukrainian forces have been counterattacking across this area for some time now, with one group managing to re-enter the far northern houses of Milove. Their goal is likely to try cut off Russian troops by seizing Milove (where Russia has been crossing from), but it is still early days and they will need far more forces to pull such a move off.

Onto the east side of the Pokrovsk front, where Russian forces managed to wipe off the limited Ukrainian counterattack into Razine over the past 2 days and retake the village. Whilst this was occurring, other Russian groups worked on securing more of the fields and treelines east of Chervonyi Lyman, as well as clearing out the slag heap north of Myrnohrad. Whilst Russian soldiers won’t occupy the heights due to threat of drones, it does deny Ukraine a key positions and prevents it from being used for communications and drone equipment (e.g. antennas set up on top to provide better signal and range for this front).

To the northeast, Russian troops were confirmed to have cleared out the village of Mayak sometime in the past week and are already moving into neighbouring Pankivka. This is yet another village on this front that fell with minimal Russian effort, a sign of how fragile and poorly defended the line is here.

Up on the east side of the Sumy front, Russian troops made a minor advance over the border to the east of Oleksandriya, taking over part of a treeline. There have been virtually no reports about the fighting in and around Myropillya for some time, so either the first Russian assault failed or the battle has stalled out with both sides hiding in place until the opposing sides positions have been softened up or destroyed.

On the Velyka Novosilka front, following weeks of heavy shelling/bombing and a ground assault that began a couple of days ago, Russian forces cleared out and captured the village of Temyrivka. The settlement is the eastern edge of first layer of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia Defence line, meaning that if (and that’s a big if) Russia wants to push deep into the Oblast they can start unravelling Ukrainian defences by moving west from this area. Russia still needs to secure the outskirts and surrounding area, as currently it is quite vulnerable to counterattack, but once done they can turn their attention to the settlements north of Temyrivka.

A little to the northeast, another set of Russian troops has continued to clear the fields and treelines west of Shevchenko and Vilne Pole, as they head towards the village of Komyshuvakha.

Back up to the northern front, this time around Hlyboke, where Ukraine made a minor advance southeast of the village up one of the treelines. Positional battles continue on this part of the frontline, but neither side has many units deployed here and are unlikely to launch any major attacks.

Over on the east side of the Kupyansk front, Russian soldiers have made further progress in their push towards Pishchane, taking over a couple more treelines north of the village. They will need to expand their control of this area quite a bit more if they want the best chance of capturing the village, as their current positions have little cover and a lot of open ground to Pishchane.

Down on the Oskil River front, some Russian infantry have begun pushing southwest from their positions near Zelena Dolyna towards Shandryholove, taking over a couple of fields and treelines.

On the Siversk front positional battles continue, with Russia making a minor gain south of Verkhnokamyanske as they continue to work on securing the surrounding area.

Over on the Toretsk front, over the past week Russian forces counterattack around the old quarry, managing to retake some of the trenches that they were driven out of earlier this month. They have still been unable to push much further out from this area, but just by maintaining these positions they are restricting Ukrainian supply somewhat.

To the south, another Russian group has been working on clearing out the small forest area on the west side of Toretsk, taking over a portion of it as they try to drive Ukraine out from the last toehold they have in the town.

Back on the Pokrovsk front, this time south of the city where heavy clashes continue between both sides. Russia is continuing to work on expanding its control of the southern suburbs, trying to move into the southwestern streets and is also putting pressure on the Ukrainian garrison in Chunyshyne.

Despite Ukrainian claims, Russian DRGs continue to operate in the city, and whilst Ukraine is trying to root them out they are struggling to contain them and more are breaking in and setting themselves up with each passing day. Whilst Ukraine does have a lot of units here they are suffering from supply issues, communication problems and dealing with attacks on multiple sides.

Heading back up to the Sumy front, this time the west side where over the past week Ukraine has continuing launching attacks around Andriivka, managing to retake several of the treelines in the area. They are currently trying to position themselves for an assault on Oleksiivka, but will need to advance on the other side as well if they wish to repeat their capture of Kindrativka. Russia is heavily bombing Ukrainian positions, but they are maintaining their advance due to having a lot of assault units available (likely outnumbering the Russians).

Back to the Oskil River front, this time slightly further north near Borivska Andriivka. Russian troops managed to not only hold their spearhead north of the village, but were also able to expand it over the past week, capturing a number of trench networks and treelines. This provides them a much better position to continue pushing up the Ukrainian defences to the west or making an assault on Borivska Andriivka, depending on what they intend to prioritise first.

Following on from picture 7, there have been a number of advances by both sides across a number of areas. Going counterclockwise, Ukrainian troops managed to make a minor positional advance west of Hrekivka, recapturing the treelines immediately west of the village. They are likely planning to try push back into Hrekivka from this side as it offers the most cover.

To the southwest, in the back and forth fighting over Karpivka, Russian assault group regrouped and managed to push back into southern Karpivka. The fighting here will likely continue for some time as neither side is able to secure a firm grip on the settlement.

To the south, three separate Russian groups made advances to the southwest, capturing several treelines as they move towards Serednje and Shandryholove. With Ukraine stalling Russia in Karpivka, their command are changing focus to pushing south towards Serednje and Shandryholove in order to cross the Nitrius River there instead. Whilst still a ways off, the capture of both settlements would provide Russia a solid foothold to either push west to pressure Ukrainian supplies for the Oskil River front or to begin developing an advance on Lyman.

To the southeast, the Russian assault on Kolodyazi continues, with their troops managing to capture more of the houses on the southern side. Clashes are ongoing and it is too early to say which side will come out on top.

Further south on the same front, both Russian and Ukraine made positional movements in Torske, with Russian assault groups taking voer more of the houses in the northern side of the town, whilst Ukraine pushed back into the farm on the east side. As I’ve mentioned before, I believe it would more accurate to show most of Torske as greyzone, as clearly neither side has a solid grip on the town.

Following on from picture 8, east of Siversk, Russian assault groups pushed back into the fortifications near the town, clearing and capturing them. This is the second time Russia has held this area, with the first attempt forced to withdraw a few weeks back before Ukraine recaptured the fortifications. This area is crucial for both sides as Russia needs to control it if they wish to assault Siversk from the east.

To the south, Russia made another minor advance south of Verkhnokamyanske, capturing some treelines and positions near Ivano-Darivka.

Moving onto Chasiv Yar, over the past week Russian assault groups cleared and captured the last streets of the town, confirming full control of the settlement (video 1, video 2). The battle lasted for approximately 483 days (give or take a few, depending on when you consider Russia to have first entered the town), making it one of the longest battles of the war.

Most of the battle was spent in periods of positional or static fighting, where neither side would dare try move out of their positions due to the sheer volume of drones and munitions used, instead spending weeks, if not over a month, waiting for openings. Eventually Russia was able to disrupt and destroy enough Ukrainian drones (via drone interceptors or specialised sniper teams) that advances could be made more consistently and they were able to gradually take the central strongholds and the rest of the town.

To temper expectations, there is almost certainly not going to be any major movements or push by Russia now that they hold Chasiv Yar. There are still many Ukrainian units on this front and numerous fortifications, so we will just see a continuations of the slow push in this area. Russian command will likely focus on moving west to capture the fortifications just outside Chasiv Yar, as well as moving northwest to take Mykolaivka, Chervone and Podilske as they move down the ridge and try to develop an encirclement of Kostyantynivka.

To the south, Russia has also moved into the first houses of Pretechyne, where fighting is ongoing. I do not expect Russia to make much progress in the village as most buildings have been destroyed and cover is minimal, but it will help them drive Ukraine back into Kostyantynivka.

Following on from picture 2, over the past 3 days Russian assault groups and DRGs have made significant advances north of the cities. Starting with the northmost advance, Russian troops secured the fortifications around Mayak and have begun pushing into Pankivka, taking over a number of houses. The situation in neighbouring Volodymyrivka is unclear (Russia troops reportedly entered the village last week), but if it is not already under Russian control then the garrison is at risk of being cut off if Russia takes Pankivka and moves onto Shakhove.

West of this, the Russian assault groups that entered Nykanorivka were confirmed to have captured over half of the village and are clearing the remaining houses now. Once again, it looks like Ukraine was either poorly manning this settlement or the garrison fled days earlier, as Russian troops have had no issues in pushing in.

South of this, other Russian groups have continued to expand their control of the area west of the Kazenyi Torets River, clearing and capturing Zatyshok, taking control of several fortifications in the fields, as well as reaching and securing a portion of the railway line. This cuts Ukrainian movement between Dorozhnje and Rodynske, and puts Russia dangerously close to the main supply road for Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which is already being interdicted.

On top of the above, Ukrainian sources say Russian DRGs are already active in Rodynske and some have even entered Bilyske, further destabilising the situations. I have also seen reports that Dorozhnje is either greyzone or Russian controlled and Sukhetske was taken by the Russians, which would mean Suriyak has underreported the already significant gains. With the information space being a mess right now it is hard to tell where Russian troops exactly are, but DRG activity within Rodynske and even in Bilyske threaten to collapse this part of the frontline.

Further south, another few Russian groups have continued to clear the area east of Rodynske, capturing more of the fields and fortifications, as well as entering the eastern side of Chervonyi Lyman. The Krasnolimanskaya mine east of Rodynske has been shelled heavily by Russia over the past few weeks and their troops will likely try to capture it in the coming days, if they haven’t already. The movement in Chervonyi Lyman also means the Ukrainian garrison in Rodynske could soon find themselves under attack from 3 sides and dealing with DRGs within the town.

Following on from picture 10, clashes are ongoing south of Pokrovsk, with Russian assault groups managing to capture the last couple of houses of Novoukrainka, establishing full control over the village. They have immediately pushed onto Chunyshyne, where they are trying to drive Ukraine back into the city.

As for the fighting within Pokrovsk, heavy clashes are ongoing with no updates to speak of. Aside from the occasional bit of drone footage, both sides are withholding information and being cryptic in their reports. The simple fact is that we are unlikely to get many confirmations until the fighting moves well into the city, so until then take all reports and claims with a massive grain of salt.

Back to the Velyka Novosilka front, on the west side, Russian troops have straightened out the frontline west of Piddubne, capturing a number of fields and treelines. Russia is currently working on improving their positions for an assault on Oleksandrohrad and Andriivka-Klevtsove, and has not yet entered either settlement,

To the east, Russian forces continue to slowly work on clearing out the last parts of Donetsk Oblast near Horikhove and Oleksiivka, capturing a couple of fields and treelines. Ukraine frequently launches counterattack to slow and stall the Russians, but overall is being gradually driven back towards Novopavlivka.