RU POV: Russian advances from Day 858 and Day 859 of the War - Suriyakmaps

Russian forces managed to recapture the houses in the northern of Vovchansk that Ukraine took a week and a half ago, as well as capturing the first of the highrise buildings. Intense clashes continue in the town itself, with neither side coming out on top as of yet. To reiterate, individual gains or losses here do not indicate who is winning or losing, and the battle for the town is a constant back and forth.

West of Ocheretyne, Russian forces expanded the buffer around Novookeksandrivka, capturing some Ukrainian trenchlines. Just to the south of this, Russian forces continued their advance along the railway, taking over a number of fields, a few defensive positions, and half of the village of Yevhenivka (red dot next to arrow).

The Ukrainian 47th Mechanised Brigade, which has been holding the area south of the railway, all the way down to Umanske, is extremely exhausted and depleted. This unit has seen almost non-stop fighting for over a year now, and was rapidly redeployed to this area after Russia broke through to Ocheretyne. Having lost many of their vehicles, suffering casualties, and losing control over some of their better defensive positions, the 47th Brigade is struggling to regain control of the situation, and needs to be reinforced, or rotated out, if Ukraine wants to prevent further losses.

Russian forces captured a large portion of fields around Yasnobrodivka, up to the river itself. This advance was completely expected, as I explained a week ago, as Ukrainian forces had only 1 supply route in this area, and were at risk of encirclement.

To the south, Russian forces have managed to cross the stream, and established a foothold on the eastern side of Karlivka. From here, they will likely expand their control of this area, before moving into the eastern suburbs of the town.

Following on from picture 2, Russia captured more of the fields just north of Yevhenivka (red dot). At this stage, Russian forces are only 2.5km away from the village of Prohres, and more importantly, the main Ukrainian defence line on the central Donetsk front (pic below). Russia will likely expand their control of the fields, and capture the remainder of Yevhenivka, before even attempting to push towards Prohres.

North-east of Chasiv Yar, Russian forces made an unexpected advance towards Hryhorivka, capturing a few fields. At the same time, clashes are occurring just north of here, as Russian forces also try to push towards Orykhovo-Vasylivka (blue dot). This was unexpected as it is NOT part of the battle for Chasiv Yar, and looks to be a separate push towards the canal in the north, and along the E40 highway.

At the same time as the events in Picture 5, Russian forces have also been expanded their control of the forests on the eastern side of the canal, with Russian recon groups now also operating along the canal itself. In the microdistrict, Russia captured another chunk of apartment buildings, and Ukraine is close to losing its control of the remaining part.

Ukraine has managed to keep control of the microdistrict for so long by regularly reinforcing the troops there, either in quick dashes with APCs or Armoured cars, or sending their troops in on foot during the night (about 200m from canal trenches to first buildings of microdistrict).

In the north, Russian forces continue to ramp up their activity on the Kupyansk front. Not only have Russian forces pushed up to the edge of Stelmakhivka (top blue bot), but they have also managed to reach the outskirts of Makiivka. Both of these involved the use of either motorcycles or 'golf buggies', as well as some APCs, in order to rapidly push forward into Ukrainian trenches, drop troops off, and immediately withdraw. Russian forces will still need to consolidate their positions on the outskirts of both villages, before beginning their assault.

Russian forces slightly expanded the buffer around Ivanivka, during their assaults toward Stepova Novoselivka. Whilst Russian forces have not captured any of the village, their assaults have forced Ukraine to abandon the entire eastern half, which is now in the grey zone. Stepova Novoselivka is important to Ukraine, as it is the last settlement between Russian forces, and the Kupyansk-conglomerate of towns.