RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 1627 to 1633 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Beginning as usual on the Sumy border area, although today we’re a bit further south. Russia has made another border crossing into Sumy, this time sending a few infantry into Ryzhivka which is next to Tetkino. This one is technically ‘new’ however Russia has crossed here several times in the past but has pulled back each time.

Given their more recent border crossings have been sustained we may see Russia try to maintain the Ryzhivka crossing on this attempt and push to capture the few small villages in that area.

Over on the Kharkiv border area, over the week Russia continued their attacks from Zhuravlevka, taking over some larger fields and treelines, as well as most of Kudiivka and the adjacent dachas. They are currently working on clearing the last few houses and moving into neighbouring Hoptivka, which is a medium sized village and the immediate goal of this force.

Heading to the northern front, Russia has further expanded its control in several areas and is working on the encirclement of the large pocket in northeastern Kharkiv. Starting on the southwest side, Russia continues to push towards Ukrainske and the surrounding villages, although as I mentioned last week the greyzone here is likely much larger than Suriyak is depicting (less Russian control).

To the east, after another week of clashes Russia looks to have pushed Ukraine out of Ivanivka and is now attacking Vasylivka, the next village in the chain.

Moving east again, Ukraine is having great difficulty containing the sudden Russia border crossing and deeper push that developed at the end of July, which is beginning to spiral out of control. Since the last update Russia has secured much more of the small forest areas and treelines throughout the area, with forward DRGs now moving into Kupyne and Chorne. Adjacent to this the soldiers that entered Anyshchyne and Vodyane the previous week look to have cleared the villages with ease (minimal defenders), now moving onto neighbouring Vilkhuvatka and Dovzhanka.

What these developments mean for the potential encirclement is that now Russia only has 4 villages between their forces on either side, with two of those seeing initial attacks now. It will be more difficult for Russia to maintain the pushes the deeper they go due to thin/weak flanks but if they can just captuire Chorne and Vasylivka the remaining two villages will essentially be undefendable, and the encirclement complete. If Ukraine does not already have forces ready to counterattack now they should be withdrawing any remaining soldiers from the pocket ASAP, as it will be too late to do so by the end of August.

Down to the Slovyansk front, on the north side, Russia has finally cleared the last few houses in Rai-Oleksandrivka and has intensified their DRG pushes towards Mykolaivka and Orikhuvatka. If both of those fall then Russia will have complete control over the east side of the canal and the entire ridge overlooking the fortress belt.

To the south, other Russian assault groups have captured the treelines north of Malynivka and are now moving to attack Zapovidne.

Going south once more, Russia also captured the treelines near Novomarkove, which were empty following their previous pushes north and south of this minor pocket.

Moving to the Kostyantynivka front, Russia a small section of Chervone as they chip away at the remaining positions in the small pocket outside Chasiv Yar.

To the west Russia continues trying to infiltrate Osykove and Oleksijevo-Druzhkivka, whilst simultaneously Ukraine is sending troops into the northwestern streets of Kostyantynivka to do the same.

Onto the Druzhkivka and Dobropillya fronts, starting on the northeast side, the Russian push up along the Kazenyi Torets River has continued to bear fruit with further advances on both sides. East of the river the Russian groups that entered Petrivka last week have captured the village (video 1, video 2) and are now moving into neighbouring Raiske. Whilst the majority of the locality sits north of the Kazenyi Torets River (around the curve) just capturing the southern section opens the way for Russian DRGs to get into the outskirts of Druzhkivka and also threatens the pocket around Mykolaipillya.

West of this, other Russian groups crossed the Hruzka River and captured the minor village of Novomykolaivka. There have been claims of these troops pushing out far further than this, although there is no evidence of that at the moment.

To the southwest, Russian infiltration operations around Dobropillya, which have been going on for several months now, are seemingly making some progress, with the reported recapture of Vilne and Stepy (briefly held by Russia during the Dobropillya breakthrough 2025) and much of the surrounding fields. They are now trying to push further north to Rubizhne, on their way to try get back into Zolotyi Kolodyaz, although I do believe this is overly optimistic mapping as most of this area is greyzone or vaguely held by a few tiny infantry/DRG groups (2 to 3 soldiers).

Adjacent to this, the Russian buildup next to Dobropillya is increasing and they are on the verge of beginning a proper assault on the city. DRGs have continued to infiltrate the outer streets and neighbouring Hannivka, whilst to the south Russia has secured Krasnopodillya and is looking to start taking over the southernmost streets of Dobropillya.

Over on the east side of the Pokrovske front, somehow the situation has gotten even messier than before, with both Ukraine and Russia making bold claims about successfully capturing/holding dozens of villages across this frontline. Ukraine released their video first, claiming 26 settlements recaptured, whilst Russia followed it up days later with an even longer video with their own flags going up in those same localities (plus another ten or so videos in the days after showing other villages).

I’ll go into this a bit more in a comment below, but the concise version is that this front is a clusterfuck of DRGs and porous lines, with soldiers from both sides walking well into the other side’s claimed territory. Many of the videos released are months old and some even date back to last year when they were first fought over, whilst others are more recent (within ~1 or 2 weeks).

As for Suriyak’s map, he has moved a larger area of greyzone (which has been like this for a couple of months) and a bit of Russian territory under Ukrainian control, including the villages of Oleksandrohrad, Piddubne, and Myrne. However the latter 2 were proven to still have some Russian present from the newly released and geolocated footage, so they are likely still contested. Personally I would have left the large yellow ‘quarantine zone’ layer over this entire area, even if Ukraine was given this territory, as its clear that there is no solid control here and little has changed in the past 6 months.

Onto the other side of the same front, this is really a continuation of the previous picture but without any territorial changes underneath. Both Russia and Ukraine have waved many flags here in their videos, although nothing has fundamentally changed on the ground with it still being a DRG clusterfuck. Russia have at least able to prove that they are currently in the majority of the villages here (white boxes) with their new footage, whilst a number of the Ukrainian clips have been proven to be months old or don’t actually show any confirmable location (blurred or without any video).

Still, the quarantine zone must remain and I’m questioning whether this will even be resolved by the end of the year given both Russia and Ukraine haven’t been able to stabilise or consolidate on this front.

Out west there were also some clips of Russian soldiers out in Nove Pole and Rybalske, but as with all the previous instances these are DRGs operating far behind the lines, thus not actual Russian control.

Down to the Hulyaipole front, over the past couple of weeks Ukraine has been counter attacking around Rizdvyanka, Rivne, Kopani and Vekhnya Tersa, recapturing the large greyzone that had formed here and driving back the many Russian infiltrators that were trying to force the front west.

At the same time Russia continues to infiltrate around Lyubytske, with some soldiers entering Novosoloshyne (no control, only DRG), whilst down south the resecured some of the treelines west of Zaliznychne.

Out on the Orikhiv front, Russian movements into the outer streets of the town have reportedly stepped up, although sources differ on whether this is just sporadic DRGs sneaking through or a proper assault.

Similarly, to the east Russia has been pushing deeper into Mala Tokmachka, with it being unclear just how much territory has changed hands due to a lack of footage and conflicting claims. Many Russian sources say they have taken or effectively taken (i.e. minimal Ukrainian presence) the town, other sources say a lot of it is now in greyzone with too many soldiers from both sides all over the place, whilst the Ukrainians say that there has been no change here and that they still solidly hold the entire area (including Novodanylivka).

Without clear information or footage I can’t really say what is happening here, but I do believe that there is something developing that is hard to quantify at the moment. What little footage we do have shows the Russians far further than they have ever gotten before on this heavily fortified front, whilst there are some aspects of the infiltration and greyzone expansion claims that are lining up between Russian and other sources (i.e. may have some basis).