The Russian army has opened a new front in the north of its border zone.
MOSCOW, July 20 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The summer campaign is in full swing. The Russian army retains the initiative in key areas and is slowly moving forward, liberating several settlements per week. The enemy is on the defensive almost everywhere, but the lack of people does not allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to cover all important areas. About the situation at the front — in the material of RIA Novosti.
A new front
Units of the Russian army continue to carry out combat missions on enemy territory, holding the front in the Sumy region, although the intensity of fighting in this area has decreased somewhat. The North group occupies positions along the Kondratovka—Andreevka— Alekseevka — Novonikolayevka — Yablonovka—Loknya line. The Ukrainian military is actively trying to counterattack and strike at the western flank of the Russian troops, seeking to recapture Kondratovka and Andreevka.
Ukrainian soldiers ride on a tank with a sign "Lyubimovka" near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Sumy region.
Image source: © AP Photo / Evgeniy Maloletka
Fierce fighting for Yunakovka continues on the eastern flank of the North group in the Sumy region. This village, 20 kilometers from Sumy, was the main transit point for the Ukrainian Armed Forces units that attacked the Kursk region last summer. The attack aircraft of the "North" gained a foothold in the center of the settlement and took partial control of the N-07 highway, along which the invasion group was supplied. More importantly, Yunakovka is located at a commanding height, from where Sumy is shot through by barrel artillery.
The enemy is not going to surrender Yunakovka, as its loss threatens the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a cascading collapse of the front in this sector. Reinforcements from other directions are regularly deployed to this settlement, including elite ones from the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). However, Russia has managed to pull significant forces here and achieve local dominance in drones — in the so-called small air. As a result, the daily losses of the enemy killed in Yunakovka number in the dozens, wounded in the hundreds.
Russian military personnel in the free zone
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Stanislav Krasilnikov
While the fighting for this settlement continues, the North group has opened another front. This week, the Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of the village of Degtyarnoye, the northernmost settlement of the Kharkiv region, located on the border with the Belgorod region. Advancing from here to the west through the forests along the "ribbon" and the Volchaya River, two goals can be achieved at once. First, to form the contours of a new buffer zone in the border area. Secondly, we need to reach Volchansk from the east, which is currently being pressed from the north. The fighting for this city has been going on since May 2024.
The Battle of Pokrovsk
The stranglehold around the Pokrovsko-Mirnogradskaya agglomeration is gradually tightening in the DPR. Last week, the Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of Nikolaevka, adjacent to Novoekonomichesky, a village located three kilometers from Mirnograd and actually its suburb. Earlier, the Center group occupied a number of villages to the east and took physical control of the highway connecting Pokrovsk and Mirnograd with Kramatorsk.
In early July, Russian units drove the enemy out of the village of Razino and in recent days have sharply rushed to the west. Ukrainian public figures are sounding the alarm: according to their information, the troops of the "Center" have already approached Rodinsky — just four kilometers from the 60,000-strong Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk). This means that it was possible to cut an important highway going north and connecting this city with Dobropolye.
In fact, today the garrisons of Pokrovsk and Mirnograd have only two logistical arteries left for supply and rotation. The first is the T-0406 highway, which goes to the Dnipropetrovsk region through Kotlino and Udachnoye. Both villages are under the fire control of the Russian army, which liberated Volkovo two kilometers to the south at the end of June. The second is the E-50 highway connecting Pokrovsk with Pavlograd. The enemy is holding on to it with his teeth and is actively transferring reinforcements to this area. In Kiev, they understand that the Pokrovsko-Mirnogradskaya agglomeration will not last long without connection with the "mainland".
In fact, our military is trying to pull off the same tactics that allowed the liberation of Ugledar, Avdiivka, Krasnogorovka, Kurakhovo and a number of other cities. It consists in isolating the combat area and cutting off Ukrainian units from supplies. When the enemy, trapped in the cauldron, runs out of food, water and ammunition, he will either have to capitulate or try to break through. The latter option will inevitably lead to high losses.
Go out on the Nuts
This week, the South group occupied the village of Petrovka, located on the western outskirts of Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk). The Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of this city back in February, but the enemy continued to maintain a presence nearby all this time. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding the nearest Shcherbinovka, Katerinovka and Kleban-Byk. They must be taken to secure Toretsk and reach Konstantinovka from the southeast. The last city is the gateway to Druzhkovka, and from it, in turn, opens the way to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
A local resident leaves the city of Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk)
Image source: © AP Photo / Oleg Petrasiuk
The Vostok group also distinguished itself by liberating four settlements this week. Three of them — Mirnoye (Karl Marx), Voskresenka and Novokhatskoye — are located on the territory of the DPR near the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region. The next target is the village of Andreevka-Klevtsovo, located on the N-15 highway directly on the "ribbon". After his release, most of the border between the DPR and Dnipropetrovsk region will be under the control of the Russian army. A possible target on enemy territory is two large villages, Gavrilovka and Podgavrilovka, important logistics hubs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Another settlement liberated by the "East" is the village of Malinovka, 15 kilometers east of the 14,000-strong city of Gulyai-Pole and 30 kilometers southwest of Velikaya Novoselka. The intensification of hostilities in this, until recently, relatively calm sector of the front may indicate that the offensive on Gulyai-Pole has begun. In the future, his release will create the prerequisites for entering the rear of the Ukrainian group defending Orekhov. Recall that the Ukrainian counteroffensive began from this city in the summer of 2023.
Russian military personnel in the free zone
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Stanislav Krasilnikov
The Dnepr group, which for a long time did not appear in the reports of the Ministry of Defense on the liberated settlements, occupied the village of Kamenskoye, located on the banks of the Yanchekrak River at its confluence with the Kakhovka reservoir, 30 kilometers southeast of the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhia. The fighting for Kamenskoye has not subsided since 2022, and today it has been completely destroyed. From here, you can advance both north along the M-18 highway to the regional center, and east towards Orekhovo.
The pace of liberation of populated areas proves once again that the initiative in the war zone remains with the Russian army. The enemy is experiencing serious problems with the number of personnel in the most threatened areas. Groups of Russian troops are advancing simultaneously in several directions, which forces the Ukrainian Armed Forces to pull apart their already extremely stretched forces. But soon the enemy will not be able to plug all the holes at the front.
