Comprehensive Battlefront Breakdown: A Strategic Look at Every Front

In this report, we will review the most significant changes along the entire frontline. This time, we will focus on developments in Kursk, Pokrovsk, and Kurakhove.

In the Kursk direction, Ukrainians have launched a daring counterattack at Cherkasskoye Konopelka, pushing Russians further from Sudzha in the south and setting conditions to establish an even stronger defensive line behind the Psel River. Russians have launched counterattacks here, but have been unable to dislodge Ukrainians anywhere, despite the ground being frozen hard and complicating the Ukrainian process of digging in for the time being.  

In the western part of the salient, Russians have launched a grueling 16-hour long multi-wave assault on Nikolsky, composed of infantry and mechanized units, to divert Ukrainian attention away from the southeast. Russians even broke off the North Korean recuperation period and sent them back to the front, despite the prior issues with North Korean soldiers not being solved. This led to the North Koreans continuing to be very combat-ineffective and losing even more soldiers. 

While recently published footage of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infantry in Nikolsky suggests that Russians did eventually manage to move some soldiers into the settlement, the lack of any further claimed progress by the Russian Ministry of Defense indicates that this progress and the Russian foothold in the settlement is very limited. 

Ukrainians are likely to soon expose this weakness by eliminating Russian forces from their elevated positions behind the river, while launching clearing operations from the north and south. 

Turning to Pokrovsk, the Russian offensive here is stalling, and might be nearing its final culmination point. For the past two weeks, the only Russian advances have been a consolidation of their preliminary positions. However, these remain in a weak state due to the low morale and combat-readiness of Russian soldiers here. 

Despite making no actual progress here for two weeks, this is not due to a lack of trying, as Russians are continuously assaulting Ukrainian lines to try and overwhelm Ukrainian defenses. 

Still, the number of assaults in the Pokrovsk direction has dropped drastically, greatly relieving the operational pressure on Ukrainian defenders, and allowing some brigades to start conducting active rotations again. 

As Ukrainians have spared much of their resources by conducting a fighting withdrawal against the overwhelming Russian offensive toward Pokrovsk, Ukrainians still have much of their combat strength available. This fact has allowed Ukrainians to conduct multiple counterattacks, retaking several key positions. While the size of the counterattacks remains small, the importance of the retaken fortifications cannot be underestimated, with all of them significantly adding to the defensive and logistical capabilities of the entire Ukrainian defense in and around Pokrovsk.

Looking at the Kurakhove direction,  Russians are looking to create a large buffer zone between the recently captured town and deny a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive and artillery fire from the west. To accomplish this, Russians are trying to create a cauldron around Ukrainian forces west of Kurakhove, while maintaining pressure on Ukrainians in Dachne.

Russian assaults from the south have been generally unsuccessful, with Ukrainians defeating most Russian assault groups and inflicting heavy losses in both manpower and armored equipment. 

In the rare cases that Russians do manage to take a minor position, the assault group generally has already largely been killed by drones, artillery, or small arms fire, and Ukrainian quick response units experience no difficulties in conducting a raid to either clear the position, or toss heavy explosives into the bunker the surviving Russians are hiding in.

\In the north, Russians have been gradually expanding their presence along the main road running through Andriivka, creating a narrow zone of control with the rest of the settlement being pushed into the grey zone. However, as Russians do not control the road running into Andriivka, they can only send more reinforcements into the town, with no feasible way of resupplying units already present. 

Because of this, Russians have been unable to take complete control of the town, and are assaulting the Pokrovsk-Andriivka highway, trying to establish proper ground lines of communication with their units in the town.

Overall, Ukrainians continue to demonstrate being able to reintroduce maneuver warfare where the situation allows for it, while Russians have seemingly doubled down on attritional attacks to wear down Ukrainian defenses in the most costly manner possible. In Pokrovsk, the Russian offensive is nearing its culmination point. Ukrainians have retaken several key strongholds that will undoubtedly further reinforce their defensive operation around the town. At Kurakhove, Russians are trying to save their forces as much as possible, launching limited assault operations to envelop Ukrainians instead of attacking them outright, hoping to save enough forces to eventually relocate some to the Pokrovsk direction, with that currently being the main operational goal of Russian military leadership.