RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1268 to 1272 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Kicking off today’s post we start on the Kupyansk front, however this time we are not in the town or to the north, but on the eastern side. 2 weeks ago I spoke about the need for Ukraine to balance its force distribution between holding the pocket open and dealing with the Russian assault on Kupyansk, however it is now clear Ukraine was not able to achieve this.

Over the span of a week with mounting Russian pressure on western Kupyansk and renewed attacks to the east starting to take some important defences (I believe by the Russian 1st or 153rd tank regiment), Ukraine was forced to withdraw back into Petropavlivka to concentrate their forces. This allowed the Russians to turn their important, smaller trench captures into a significant advance, taking control over a large area of fields, treelines and trenches on the east side of the pocket. It is unclear whether they were able to move into Petropavlivka at this time, as whilst some sources say they established a foothold, others say they are still just on the outskirts.

Regardless, this does shrink the Kupyansk pocket quite a bit and put Russian troops (particularly drone crews) much closer to the key strongholds and supply routes in and out of the pocket. For now Ukraine is holding with the lines being shortened, but if Russia can push into and take Petropavlivka, or replicate this advance further to the south, Ukraine’s positions in the remaining part of the pocket will become untenable.

On the Velyka Novosilka front, Russian forces moved from their positions in the tree plantation and assaulted Andriivka-Klevtsove, waving flags in many different parts of the small town. This is where I will leave off the discussion of this advance as there is conflicting information that will be mentioned further down the post.

To the south, Russian troops managed to clear and capture the last few buildings in Voskresenka over the past few days, as well as beginning the assault on Oleksandrohrad. With the latter, Russian assault groups moved up through the treelines north of Voskresenka and have entrenched themselves in the southern buildings of the village.

This is where this post gets even messier. More concrete information about the large-scale counterattack by Ukrainian forces against the Russian breakthrough northeast of Pokrovsk that began last week has now been released, with Ukrainian troops confirmed to have retaken a significant area. Ukraine is now certainly in control of Vesele, Hruzke, Zolotyi Kolodyaz, Stepy, and Dorozhnje. Those are not the only settlements shown being recaptured here, however there is a lot of doubt about whether those other ones were taken and Suriyak backtracks on some of this in a later update.

It is important to note that the vast majority of this area was never under Russian control, but rather greyzone caused by many small Russian DRGs spreading out over a large area, many of which either weren’t present for long or withdrew back to firmly held Russian positions once Ukrainian reinforcements arrived. So a lot (but not all) of this Ukrainian counterattack saw them moving troops into areas where no one was present, combing treelines and trenches to see if any Russian troops were around or remained. The area around Zolotyi Kolodyaz, Vesele and Hruzke (so the top middle of this advance) is the exception, where Ukraine did clash with Russian groups and retake the villages. I’ll elaborate further on the status of the ‘breakthrough’ (which is now more of a solid frontline) further down, but for now keep in mind that it has been well continued by a large redeployment of Ukrainian forces who are trying to eliminate the remainder.

Further south, Ukraine also counterattack the Russian DRGs operating northwest of Rodynske, retaking the treelines and fields. This has completely halted the Russian attempt to flank Rodynske and pressure the remaining supply road into Pokrovsk, although the east supply road is still not usable due to being too close to the frontline. Heavy clashes continue within Rodynske, with neither side coming out on top so far.

Within Pokrovsk city, with new reinforcements arriving Ukraine counterattacked against the forward Russian positions, driving them back and recapturing most of the greyzone and Russian controlled areas on the south and southwest sides. This includes the remaining Russian DRGs that were active within Pokrovsk, so the situation has further stabilised for Ukraine. They are currently continuing to counterattack and trying to push Russia out of the city entirely and re-enter Leontovychi.

Following on from picture 2, starting on the north side, following the arrival of reinforcements (67th Mechanised Brigade, was up in Sumy), Ukraine counterattacked into Zelenyi Hai from their positions in the western farm, recapturing part of the village. Clashes are ongoing, with Russian forces holding the southern side.

To the southwest of this, we’re back in Andriivka-Klevtsove where things get interesting. 2 days after Russia claims to have captured the town, Ukraine’s 5th Heavy Mechanised Brigade released a video claiming to have never lost control of the settlement, with soldiers seen waiving Ukrainian flags there in 2 different spots. Why this is interesting is that in the video filmed by the Ukrainians Russian sources have noted that a number of small fields and groups of trees are shown to be lush and green, whilst in the Russian video they are burnt out. Now unless the Ukrainians know how to regrow trees and fields in the span of 2 days in the middle of a war, the videos indicate that theirs was filmed prior to the Russian one by days or even weeks. Now this doesn’t mean the settlement can’t have been recaptured, as Ukraine has been counterattacking in this area, but the current control is unclear and neither side has released further evidence in the 5 or 6 days since. Personally I would mark this greyzone until the situation is cleared up, but Suriyak seems to believe it is Ukrainian controlled regardless of the video’s film date.

A little further south, the Russian assault group that entered Oleksandrohrad has captured the village, which was poorly defended. Russia will still need to secure their positions and consolidate before they can claim solid control, as Ukraine is counterattacking and could push them out again.

Heading up to Sumy, over the past week Ukraine has intensified efforts to recapture the border areas, retaking Varachyne again using a number of infantry groups. Russia is solidly on the defensive on this front and has ceased all offensive actions bar some counterattacks and trying to secure the last part of Yunakivka (under the k).

A little to the east, Ukraine was confirmed to be back in control of all of Myropillya, following a failed Russian assault. More correctly, they were confirmed to have defeated the Russian assault back in mid-July, with the remainder of those troops pulling back over the border. Suriyak had updated the live map many weeks ago showing this, but for some reason decided to wait almost a month to make a post about it.

Onto the Oskil River front, over the past week Russia and Ukraine have traded some positions southwest of Lozova, capturing and recapturing some of each other’s trenches. Russia is still trying to take the fortification line in this area and push west, whilst Ukraine is counterattacking to try stall or prevent this. Positional battles here will continue for a while to come.

Moving down to the Siversk front, the localised collapse within the Serebryansky forest continues, with Russian assault groups clearing and capturing the remainder of the positions (such as this) in the pocket as Ukrainian troops try to withdraw further west. Some sources have claimed the situation is even worse for Ukraine than shown here, but without further evidence its hard to determine whether this is true or not.

A little to the south, Russian assault groups managed to capture the remainder of Serebryanka after another 2 weeks of fighting (since last update), establishing control over the town. The western side is only lightly held due to the lack of buildings (both from damage and there just not being many), so Ukraine may break back into the settlement, but Russia will be working on solidifying its positions and trying to push southwest towards the large trench networks that overlook Siversk.

Also, whilst not shown here, Suriyak did update the live map to show that since the last update (Day 1257) the large area of greyzone southwest of Hryhorivka is now under Russian control. Russia had attacked this area a few weeks back and managed to consolidate their positions in the days following that, but for some reason Suriyak once again did not make a post about it. I’ve added it in here but if he does remember this change in a future update I won’t include the advance numbers in that post.

Following on from picture 5, Suriyak has updated the map to show that Russia ‘regained’ control over Nykanorivka (above the S) and Kucheriv Yar (at the top). Personally I believe that Russia never lost control of these settlements and Suriyak over corrected the frontline when showing the Ukrainian counterattack in picture 5, with more information coming out showing that they are still under Russian control.

Russian forces are reportedly trying to expand their control around Kucheriv Yar and the defences in that area, in order to hold off the Ukrainian counterattacks from multiple sides.

Following on from picture 9, video footage released by Ukraine showed that Russia is still in control of the treelines directly east of Kucheriv Yar. Again, Suriyak over reported the Ukrainian gains and has now had to backtrack on them as Russia has control of a larger area than previously claimed.

To the southwest, Ukraine continued to push back north of Rodynske and is trying to recapture Sukhetsake, with clashes ongoing.

A little to the south, Russian troops entered the wastewater treatment plant northeast of Myrnohrad, taking up positions in the northern buildings. Russia is currently probing around Myrnohrad and is trying to improve its positions right outside the city, but for now does not look to actually be attempting to enter it.

Much further out to the northeast, a small Russian group moved up the treeline southwest of Stepanivka, likely probing for a possible push on the settlement in the future.

Following on from picture 4, Ukraine continued its counterattacks from Pokrovsk and managed to re-enter Leontovychi, recapturing the northern streets. Heavy clashes are ongoing here as Russia is trying to push back.

To the southeast, Russian infantry made slightly more progress in the fighting over Chunshyne, capturing a few more houses. Due to the narrow area and high number of drones there is a lot of back and forth here as neither Russia nor Ukraine can truly secure positions in the village.

Back to the Velyka Novosilka front, Russian forces recaptured the northern part of Temyrivka and the surrounding fields over the past week and a bit. For the moment they do not look to be trying to push further west to secure the surrounding parts of Temyrivka, but are reportedly probing to the north towards Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka.

Over to the Chasiv Yar front (now really the Kostyantynivka front), Russian assault groups pushed down the hill from their positions in Predtechyne and the large trench networks north of it, capturing several fields and treelines outside of Kostyantynivka. Now at least part of this seems to be incorrect, with more reliable Russian sources saying the western half of this advance actually occurred north of the T-0504 road rather than south of it (see this). Suriyak may correct this later, but for now all you need to know is that Russia troops are right outside the city, but have not secured a foothold within it (yet).

A little to the east, Russia has begun to collapse the small pocket between Bila Hora and Predtechyne, starting by clearing the fields, trenches and treelines in the southeastern section (see this comment). Ukraine had already begun the withdrawal from here last week once Predtechyne was lost due to the difficulty in supplying their forces, but stragglers still remain. Once Russia has cleared the pocket and captured the remainder of Oleksandro-Shulytne (above the a), they will have a solid line from which they can try to approach and enter Kostyantynivka city from the east.

Moving south to the Toretsk front, Russian troops reportedly captured the Novodzerzhinskaya mine after weeks of bombing and shelling, as well as the surrounding fields and defences. I have read some sources say that Russia hasn’t secured it yet and that it is more accurate to say its in the greyzone, but even if so it will eventually fall to Russia as Ukraine cannot get supplies to it. There are also some developments reported in neighbouring Scherbynivka, although Suriyak hasn’t shown them here yet so I’ll leave that for the next post.

Back over to the Pokrovsk front, this time east of Shakhove where Russian forces from Poltavka (above the k) have been working on expanding their push to the north. Currently Russia is working on trying to squeeze Ukraine out from Volodymyrivka and Shakhove by attacking it from the west side (from that breakthrough area) as well as by pushing north and west from Poltavka to try get behind the Ukrainian defenders.

Moving on to the opposite side of the Pokrovsk front, heavy clashes continue within Udachne, with Russian and Ukrainian troops trading some positions on the east and west sides of the town. I’ve mentioned this before, but with neither side able to truly secure a foothold in Udachne it would be more accurate to show most of it in the greyzone. Regardless, positional battles will continue here for some time to come.

On the far eastern side of the Hulyaipole front (haven’t been here with an update in a while), Russian forces have reactivated their advances in the fields near the Donetsk border, using a few small infantry groups to push west of Levadne and Novodarivka through the fields. For the moment this looks to be opportunistic with Ukrainian attention elsewhere, although I won’t rule out a larger Russian push to try reach the Yanchur River in this area.