Moscow continues its long-range offensive campaign against Ukraine while liberating several new locations in Donbass
The past week in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev has been marked by large-scale attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine, while Russian forces have attacked both southwestern Russia’s Donetsk (DPR) and northwestern Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics. acquired a new base.
Fighting continues in Russia’s Kursk region, where the country’s military continues its efforts to remove Ukrainian invaders from the border town of Suzha and its surrounding areas. No major victories have been achieved by either side over the past week, and fighting continues in the region.
Donbass push continues
Russian forces continued their march south of the city of Pokrovsk (also known as Krasnoarmeysk), reporting new advances in the DPR. The city is the most populous settlement remaining under Ukrainian control in the southwestern part of the republic.
This week, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of Vozrozhdenye (also known as Novy Turd), a small village located about five kilometers south of Pokrovsk. The Russian military is also reportedly putting pressure on Pokrovsk itself, with new videos showing Russian kamikaze drones operating in the city.
One of the videos, allegedly taken in Pokrovsk by a Russian fiber-optic wired drone, shows a kamikaze drone approaching a damaged Ukrainian supply truck. The car was parked near several garbage tanks and a local woman was seen approaching to take out the garbage. The video shows the drone operator waiting for the woman to leave the scene before jumping into the truck.
Russian forces also continue to tighten their grip on Krakhovo, a heavily fortified town located about 30 kilometers south of Pokrovsk and stretching along the southern shore of the eponymous reservoir. This week, Russian troops announced that they had captured the village of Solntsevka in Krasnoye and expanded the area on the northern bank of the reservoir.
In the south, Moscow forces captured the village of Gigant and further strengthened their positions in a series of settlements along the Sukhiye Yaly River. Russian forces are reportedly pushing further north into the area with the aim of cutting off the last major road west from Krakhovo. The town itself is already partially under Russian control, and heavy fighting continues inside.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also reported new acquisitions from the so-called Vremevka shelf, a series of villages in the western Donetsk People’s Republic. The region saw active hostilities when a Ukrainian military counteroffensive last year ultimately failed, as well as some settlements in areas then occupied by Kiev.
This week, Russian troops reportedly liberated the village of Strozhevoe and reached the last main road leading to Vremevka from the west. Another supply route approaching the shelf from the north was cut off last week after Moscow forces captured the village of Novy Komar, located just north of the area.
Separately, Moscow’s military also reported new gains near the town of Kupyansk, located in Ukraine’s Kharkov Oblast near the border with the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). Kupyansk came under Russian control early in the conflict, but was recaptured by Kiev in late 2022. This week, Moscow forces captured the villages of Zagrizovo and Lozovaya, just southeast of Kupyansk across the Oskol River.
Continued long range attacks
Over the past week, Russian forces continued long-range offensive operations targeting dual-use infrastructure, power plants, and logistics in Ukraine.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that it had carried out “a large-scale attack using long-range precision weapons and attack drones against key energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine” that supply the country’s military-industrial complex. The military did not elaborate on the weapons used in the attacks or the exact targets, only saying that all were successful.
Media reports and unverified footage circulating online indicated that the city of Dnepr (also known as Dnepropetrovsk) was one of the main targets of the attack. Footage circulating online suggests that Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles were used to maintain local thermal power plants. According to footage, Ukrainian forces tried to shoot down the incoming missile with anti-aircraft guns, but failed.
At least 12 hits were reported from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, apparently using high-velocity ballistic missiles apparently fired from the Iskander system. One of the videos circulating online shows a large fire breaking out in the area affected by the airstrike. Footage showed the moment the site was hit by another projectile, causing a massive explosion.
The Slavyanskaya TPP, one of Russia’s few still functioning thermal power plants in the Ukrainian-controlled region of Donbas, also appears to have been targeted. Footage circulating online shows large amounts of black smoke billowing from the scene of at least one attack.
Russian forces are also continuing intensive efforts to disrupt Ukrainian logistics in the immediate rear of Kiev forces. This week, a Russian airstrike destroyed a road bridge over the Volchya River, just west of Krakhovo.
The bridge was targeted with multiple aerial bombs and was apparently fitted with a Universal Modified Guidance Module (UMPK) winged upgrade kit. The ammunition destroyed the bridge floor and its supports, flattening the entire structure.
drone war
The past week has seen a variety of drones continue to be actively used, from various homemade kamikaze drones to large loitering weapons such as Russia’s Lancet family of drones.
The latter drones have played an increasingly important role during conflicts, serving as one of the key medium-range weapons in Russia’s arsenal. The Lancet family of loitering munitions is used to hunt down high-value Ukrainian assets such as anti-aircraft or long-range ground-attack missile systems, radars, and artillery.
A new video released this week shows a rather unusual example of different classes of drones being used against the same target. Footage circulating online claims to show a German-made Ukrainian Leopard 2A4 tank operating in a small village near Pokrovsk. The tank, heavily armored with Soviet-era Kontakt-1 reactive armor, was attacked by at least two FPV drones, finished off with a lancet, and its ammunition stock set on fire, video shows. .
Another new video purportedly taken in Russia’s Kursk region shows the destruction of a US-supplied M1126 Stryker armored personnel carrier (APC). The vehicle is attacked by multiple “traditional” radio-controlled FPV drones and ends up engulfed in flames. Some of the occupants managed to rescue the APC and took shelter in an adjacent badly damaged building, but were attacked by another drone, footage showed.
The use of fiber optic wired drones continues to expand, with multiple new videos emerging from the Pokrovsk region. This type of drone was deployed en masse by the Russian military during Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region in August, and its use has since spread to other regions.
One of the videos shows a cable-controlled UAV carrying a US-made HMMWV armored vehicle equipped with multiple drones driving along a road and speeding towards it. The diver noticed the drone and tried to flee, but it hit the windshield. Footage taken by another fiber-optic drone shows the vehicle was badly damaged and completely burnt out.
Fiber optic drones, unlike radio-controlled drones, are resistant to any electronic warfare or jamming and are safe from all types of interference and signal blackouts. At the same time, such drones carry huge rolls of wire along their payload, making them slower and less agile, making them bulkier and more easily detected.
