RU POV: Russian advances from Day 851 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Over the past few days Russian forces have continued their large gains south of Kostyantynivka. To reiterate what I've said in previous posts; There are fewer Russian AND Ukrainian troops in this area, compared to other 'hot' fronts like Vovchansk and Chasiv Yar. This has allowed smaller Russian assault groups, often only with 1 or 2 vehicles, or even on foot, to assault field by field, and force the similarly small Ukrainian force to fall back, or risk being overrun.

This lack of Ukrainian forces here means that a single successful FPV or Artillery strike could drastically reduce the ability to hold any particular trench/area (as there may only be 10 to 20 soldiers holding several fields). Similarly, a successful hit on a Russian vehicle could halt all attack attempts for days as they recover/repair/wait for a new one.

Overall, the situation along here is not looking great for Ukraine. Whilst this area is almost entirely empty fields, Russian forces are closing in on the main supply road from Kostyantynivka to Vuhledar, and may also be looking to circumvent the town from the south.

Russian forces made some small gains northeast of Kupyansk, capturing a few treelines/some trenches. This area has been relatively quiet for the past few months, but has recently picked up a little due to a Ukrainian unit being redeployed to Vovchansk.

Continuing on from yesterday, Russian forces captured more of the fields and old Ukrainian defences around Shumy. There are also currently reports of clashes occurring in the forest area and first streets of Pivnichne, however we have yet to get confirmation of this.

From the information we do have, this is not a large-scale Russian offensive, but a smaller force exploiting weak Ukrainian units and making opportunistic gains. Russia may later choose to direct more troops to this area to exploit this weakness, but for now its a matter of how well they are able to utilise their (relatively) small force to push Ukraine back.

Geolocated footage has shown Russia forces occupy some of the southern street of Rozdolivka. Whilst this advance is quite small, it is still a confirmed advance, and so is being reported. Given Russian forces are operating in the eastern and western sides of Rozdolivka, I would predict that we will see Russia capture the bulk of the town over the next few days, as Ukraine is forced to pull back.

As mentioned yesterday, Russian forces have begun clearing the streets of the northern residential area in Krasnogorivka. Ukrainian forces are still present in the northern side of the town, but, having lost their strong defensive points in the apartment buildings, are struggling to hold Russian forces back.

Russian forces captured the last few buildings of Novookeksandrivka (top red dot), confirming the full capture of the village. Ukrainian forces were quickly pushed back by Russia (allegedly due to a unit abandoning positions), and are now operating out of the village of Vozdvyzhenka (off picture north-west).

To the south, Russian forces made more headway in Sokil, advancing on both the north and south side of the river.

Following on from pic 1, Russian forces also made larger gains in the fields around the Volodymyrivka quarry over the past few days, pushing Ukrainian forces back. The field/forest area between this advance and Mykilske (red dot) will also likely fall under Russian control over the next few days, as Ukrainian forces retreat to avoid being encircled.