RU POV: Russian and Ukrainian advances from Day 921 and 922 of the War - Suriyakmaps

In Kursk, positional battles around Sudzha continue. On the north side, Russian troops pushed Ukrainian forces back near the main road, forcing them to retreat back to their positions in the village of Martynovka. At the same time, Ukrainian troops made some progress east of Martynovka, capturing some treelines.

Further south, Ukraine re-entered Russkaya Konopelka (last mentioned Day 912), capturing the first few houses. Most of the village remains in the greyzone.

On the Oskil River front, Russian troops made some progress to the south east of Makiivka, capturing a few fields.

East of Siversk, Russian troops captured part of the northern hills of Bilohorivka, as they seek to push Ukraine out from its strong positions there. The battlefield in Bilohorivka is a mess of craters, trenche

Still on the Siversk front, although this time to the south, over the past few days Russian assault groups have made some progress in the village of Pereizne, capturing approximately 1/3 of it. The Bakhmutovka River on the west and south side of the village is being used by Russian troops as a barrier, protecting their flanks as they advance north. There is a possibility that Russian could cut off Ukrainian troops in the hills east of Pereizne, if they continue advancing up the railway here and in Vyimka (from yesterday’s update).

In Chasiv Yar, Russian assault groups made more progress in the eastern side of the town, capturing another group of buildings, as well as taking over the forest area and crossing in Kalinivna in the north. Battles here are still of a positional nature, as Russia does not yet have a strong enough foothold, nor easy enough access, to move it troops from the east side of the canal, to the west. Ukraine still strikes back, but are mostly trying to stop Russian troops with drones. They will have to capture more of the residential area and Kalinivna to be able to bring in more troops.

Following on from the previous update, the Russian offensive around Vuhledar continues to develop. Russian assault groups have rapidly taken over half of Prechystivka (west side), with the Ukrainian garrison there being overwhelmed and likely to retreat within the next day.

To the north, Russian forces advanced towards Vodyane (top blue dot) across a broad front, capturing multiple fields. The Ukrainian garrison here, likely the 36th Separate Rifle Battalion or 72nd Mechanised Brigade, are quickly preparing for an assault on the town, which is likely to begin in the coming days. If Russia can take over Vodyane, they will be able to continue advancing west and cut off some of the few remaining supply routes for Ukrainian forces in Vuhledar. Vodyane will be difficult for Ukraine to hold, due to there being minimal defensive positions outside the town (as the only ones built here were along the main road, which Russia captured), as well as due to the split nature of the town, with being an exposed railway and field that separates the north and south sides.

On the Toretsk front, Russian troops made more progress in Druzhba, north of the railway, capturing most of the remainder of the town, as Ukrainian troops are forced out of the area. Despite some Russian claims, Druzhba is not fully under Russian control quite yet, as there are still several buildings on the northern and western sides of the town. However these will almost certainly be cleared in the next few days.

The big event today happened on the Selydove/Kurakhove front, as Ukraine began its withdrawal from the area east of the Vovcha River. Overnight (Monday into Tuesday) Ukrainian forces started pulling back from their positions in the area, withdrawing towards the riverline in order to reduce the risk of being cutoff by the Russian offensive. If you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll know I’ve been mentioning the necessity of this retreat for some time now, as delaying it only risks Ukrainian soldiers being encircled.

For now, they have fallen back from the eastern and northern area somewhat, but do not look to be abandoning their positions east of the river entirely just yet. The evacuation was not perfect, with some troops being struck as the pulled back, or captured due to being isolated. Russian forces have starting moving into the abandoned area, and are clearing it now. This advance also marks an important milestone (symbolically at least), as Russia has now captured every part of the original pre-war front line, which Ukraine has been fortifying for years. Strategically this does not particularly matter, as this area was low on the priority list for both sides, and the more important areas of the defence line have been captured elsewhere.

At the same time this was happening, Russian troops continued advancing on the northern side, capturing part of Lisivka (left red dot), and entering Zhelanne Pershe. The situation in Ukrainske is still unclear.

Following on from Picture 6, Russian forces made more progress in Prechystivka, capturing the remainder of the town. Ukrainian troops that survived the battle look to have retreated west to Zolota Nyva (blue dot), however interestingly video footage shows them walking away from the village on foot, heading north. Its possible Ukraine might have given up on Zolota Nyva, as their soldiers are simply stretched too thin, and defences in this area are very weak.

On the northern side, Russian assault groups closed in on Vodyane, making progress on multiple side and getting within 100m of the town. Vodyane itself is being shelled heavily, as Russian forces prepare to storm the town in the next few days.

In Robotyne, Russian troops have continued their recent advances, capturing a large area of fields and trenches over the past few days. At this stage its clear Ukraine cannot hold their positions in the salient (or rather whats left of it), as they have lost control of their main trenches and dugouts. With this advance, Russia only has a smallish area left to capture to completely undo the Ukrainian counteroffensive gains, although its unclear if they intend to push any further than that.

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Additional point:

Russia has had a surge of precision strikes with Iskanders and guided MLRS Rockets (Tornado-S or Urugan) in the past month, coinciding with the Kursk offensive beginning. I’ve seen a lot of discussion on this in the sub about why that is, and the main reasons for the sudden increase are:

More targets in a smaller area closer to the front line (Sumy/Kursk)

Russia was building a pretty decent Missile/Guided Rocket stockpile over the past year, which they've decided to use part of now

Kursk/Sumy activity is closer to Russian territory, so its much safer for them to use their expensive guided MLRS

Degraded UA AA making it easier for recon drones to fly around, and for missiles/rockets to hit their targets.

It is NOT due to an increase in Russian recon ability or response times. This is absolutely a factor, yes, but its not the cause here, because Russia had significantly improved those quite a while ago. I was talking about the improved Russian response times, recon ability, and strike approval process 4 months ago, so those have been at the current level for a while now.