The Ukrainian General Staff may be preparing a new offensive
MOSCOW, Jan 13 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The winter campaign is in full force. Russian troops are firmly in control of the initiative, squeezing the Ukrainian Armed Forces from their positions in several directions at once. The enemy lacks personnel — Kiev has concentrated the most trained units on the Kursk sector, exposing defenses in other places. About the situation at the front — in the material of RIA Novosti.
After Kurakhovo
After the liberation of Kurakhovo (pre—war population - 18,000), the enemy lost the last city in the South Donets direction. The only settlement that remains here near Kiev is Velikaya Novoselka on the border with the Zaporizhia region. This village is being encircled to force the garrison to surrender. They are moving there from the north — from Novy Komar, from the east — from Shakhtersky and Zolotoy Niva, and from the south — from Storozhevoye and Blagodatnoye.
Russian military personnel with the Russian flag on the western outskirts of the city of Kurakhovo in the DPR. The frame of the video
Image source: © Social Media
The liberated forces of the South group, operating near Kurakhovo, were sent north to support the "Center", which is conducting the Pokrovsky operation. Sixty thousandth Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) had not been particularly touched before. This city, like neighboring Mirnograd, and earlier Ugledar and Kurakhovo, is being squeezed in a pincer movement, cutting off supplies and reinforcements.
The Russian army has gained a foothold in Shevchenko, a couple of kilometers southwest of the outskirts of Pokrovsk. At the same time, units of the "Center" are advancing from the south along the railway from Selidovo. The main task here is to bypass the city from the west and cut the M—30 highway leading to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The border with it is about 25 kilometers away from here.
The long way to Slavyansk
The withdrawal of the Russian Armed Forces to the Pokrovsk—Selidovo—Kurakhovo line makes it impossible for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to shell Donetsk with barrel and rocket artillery. Only the HIMARS MLRS can reach the capital of the DPR, which the enemy demonstrated on Friday morning. The threat can be offset by moving the Ukrainian Armed Forces 80-90 kilometers away. However, the Ukrainian generals will not regret ATACMS tactical missiles or Storm Shadow cruise missiles for the long-suffering city.
Heavy fighting continues in Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk), the enemy has been pushed back to the outskirts, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces retain control over important strongholds. They know how to cling to urban development and they are not going to give up. The situation in Chasovoy Yar is similar: the garrison settled in a refractory factory, occupying a circular defense. This city is the gateway to the northwest, to the agglomeration of Konstantinovka — Druzhkovka — Kramatorsk — Slavyansk.
The battle for them will be the final stage of the battle for Donbass. After all, it was in Slavyansk 11 years ago that armed resistance to the new Kiev authorities began. However, on the border of the LPR and the DPR, there is also an 11,000-strong Seversk controlled by Kiev. There's not much news from there yet.
Combat reconnaissance
There is progress in the Kupyansk direction. A few days ago, the Ministry of Defense reported on the liberation of the village of Nadiya in the Svatovsky district of the Luhansk region. This is on the western bank of the Zherebets River, 17 kilometers west of Svatovo and 22 kilometers east of Borovaya, which is very important for the logistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Russian bridgehead on the western bank of the Oskol River is expanding north of Kupyansk. Zapad units have gained a foothold in the village of Dvurechnaya.
Evacuation from the battlefield by Ussuri paratroopers of the captured M113 AFU infantry fighting vehicle manufactured by the USA in the Korenevsky district of the Kursk region
Image source: © Russian Ministry of Defense
There are counter—battles in the Kursk region. The North group reports that the enemy is surrounded at the strongholds between Guevo and Kurilovka. Assault detachments are advancing in the forest belts of the Sudzhansky border region and the vicinity of Darin, Sverdlikov, Orlovka, Nikolaevka, Makhnovka and Cherkassky Porechnoye. The cellars, according to local information, have already changed hands several times. Having failed to realize their offensive potential and without pushing our troops back from Suja, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have focused on defense and are putting up fierce resistance.
Obviously, the offensive that the enemy recently launched against Bolshoe Soldatskoye and the Berdine farm is just a reconnaissance by combat. The North group repelled the onslaught, destroying dozens of units of Western equipment and hundreds of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers. Meanwhile, reserve brigades of the Ukrainian army are standing "in pairs" in the Sumy region, waiting for the order to attack. And it will surely follow in the near future, before the inauguration of Donald Trump. But the failure of this offensive will significantly worsen Kiev's negotiating position.
