Brief report from the front on December 18, 2024
The battles for Peschanoe and Novovasilyevka have begun! Report by Marat Khairullin with illustrations by Mikhail Popov.
In the Pokrovsky area, active clashes are taking place in Dachenskoe. The western part of the settlement is under the control of our fighters. Separate advance groups are already working across the river north of Dachenskoe. In Vidrodzhennia (Novy Trud), Russian fighters have occupied more than half of the settlement, and fighting is underway in its eastern part. They have also expanded the control zone south of Vidrodzhennya, gradually clearing the remaining salient occupied by the enemy.
West of Shevchenko, on a wide area, our units approached the settlement of Peschanoe (Pischane) and began fighting for it. On the outskirts of Peschanoe, our soldiers managed to gain a foothold, despite enemy resistance. Fighting also began for Novovasilyevka (Novovasylivka), to which Russian units advanced from the direction of Novotroitskoe.
To the south, the Russian Armed Forces advanced deep into the enemy's defenses, wedging in west of the village of Pushkino between Novoolenovka and Ukrainka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces units entrenched in the Novoolenivka area will be under pressure from three sides. This means that the enemy is unlikely to be able to hold out there for long. There is also an advance south of Pushkino. Here, our soldiers have advanced towards Ukrainka, occupying a forest belt in front of the settlement.
In the Kurakhovsky section, they eliminated the pocket north of the reservoir, securing a foothold along the Sontsovka-Starye Terny road. In Sontsovka, the enemy has been driven out of the settlement. Clean-up and consolidation operations are underway. At the same time, we managed to advance west of it and take the heights in front of the settlement of Petropavlovka, attacks on which are also continuing. The Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the liberation of the settlement of Starye Terny. Having finally secured a foothold in it, our soldiers advanced to the village of Shevchenko (the southern one), where they managed to gain a foothold on its outskirts. Between Shevchenko and Starye Terny, the control zone along the Volchya River was expanded. Our troops are already actually located slightly north of Dachnoye, through which all the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces go to Kurakhovo.
Active military operations continue in Kurakhovo itself. The remaining industrial zone in the north of the city is being cleared. Numerous artillery and air strikes are being carried out on the industrial zone in the west, which is a powerful fortified area of the enemy.
The "Uspenovsky pocket" has been completely eliminated. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of the settlement of Trudovoe, for which fighting lasted for almost two months. There are reports that the enemy is already leaving Uspenovka itself. Our fighters have installed flags in its central part, confirming our control there.
Near Konstantinopolskoe (Kostyantynopolske), they continue to drive the enemy out of the warehouse area. In the area from Konstantinopolskoe to Zelenovka, the enemy was driven out of the southern bank of Sukhi Yal. In Zelenovka, our military has strengthened its positions, expanding its control. Our armed forces have also made significant advances in the fields to the west. In addition, to the northwest of Zelenovka, we have consolidated our positions in the direction of Konstantinopol (Kostyantynopil), which is about one and a half kilometers away from our positions.
In addition to attacks in the direction of Konstantinopol, attacks are also underway in the direction of the settlement of Razliv, putting pressure on it now from two sides - from the Zelenovka area and north of Yasnaya Polyana.
In the Velikaya Novosyolka (Velyka Novosilka) area, units of the Russian Armed Forces expanded the control zone in front of the settlement of Novy Komar and consolidated their position in its central part.
In the area of Storozhevoe, they advanced from the west to the Mogila Storozhevaya (Могила Сторожевая, for more information on this height, read the previous day's battlefield update) mound and strengthened their position to the southeast of it, gaining a foothold in another forest belt in the area between Makarovka and Storozhevoe.
Ukrainian names in parenthesis *
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Good one. Thankyou. Lot of work still needs to be done isn't there? One third of Donetsk still occupied. Maybe more. We need Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. The population there would help?
It is not very encouraging. It is not disheartening but I don't think you can say it is wildly encouraging.
By ALL accounts (their disinformation, our MSM, our alt-media, all the pundits) Kiev forces are worn down to nearly nothing. Right? Everyone says this. Everyone. Or am I wrong? I think everyone.
An army should be three 'armies'. Is the truth. Right?
One in the front line.
One behind it supplying replacements, rotation etc.
One in reserve for use in exploiting breakthroughs in attack and in repelling massive invasion.
We are told Kiev has lost ALL of this.
Even the front line, we are told, is not fully manned.
So we have an army that is less than one third of what it should be.
I would expect us to be walking through such an army wherever we want to, just the way they walked through Kursk because it was 'lightly defended' or the Kharkiv attack which succeeded because 'it was lightly defended'.
But we are not walking through anything. We are fighting hard for every gain.
And we still have not cleared Kursk or Donetsk.
Yes, sure, the enemy brought up all its best forces to Kursk and Donetsk to make it a hard fight.
But the whole point is that should have left tissue paper thin forces in other places.
Places where we should be able to roll through and rampage about at will.
Yes, maybe places we don't want to occupy. Places by definition where there's not many forces so we don't succeed in killing many. Places that would perhaps be indefensible or not worth it or even would be a trap.
No matter. The PR and morale gain of ripping holes through their defenses wherever and whenever we wish would be immense. Immense.
And I am pretty sure the generals know this. But they are not doing it. Why?
I don't know.
But it looks like maybe we have been sold a propaganda coup and they are nothing like as depleted as is claimed. Nothing like it. Every captured soldier tells us what we want to hear, not what the truth is.
It's either that or we simply can't fight for some reason. Have a bad army. With poor communications, poor generals. Remember that certainly was the case wasn't it?
Just like Kiev romped through Kursk we should be romping through places here and there, everywhere, on this 1000km front line.
If it is true about the state of the Kiev forces then we have to ask ourselves - how would we be going if they were at full strength? Looks like they'd walk straight through us doesn't it?
What do you think?
Are there any works out there that discuss actual, not NATO propaganda, operations by the more specialized Russian forces?