Brief report from the front on November 13, 2024

The use of heavy artillery and aviation forces the enemy to surrender! Report by Marat Khairullin with illustrations by Mikhail Popov.

In the Chasov Yar direction, there are mainly positional battles. Both sides are massively using drones. Our artillery is much more active than the enemy's pieces. Artillery units and Russian Aerospace Forces are constantly striking the forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and objects in the rear areas.

In Druzhkovka (Ukrainian: "Druzhkivka," close to Kramatorsk, not on the map), warehouses with military goods and equipment were destroyed on the territory of one of the enterprises as well as warehouses and a repair shop on the territory of a machine-building plant. In Novomarkovo (Ukrainian: "Novomarkove," Northeast of Markovo just off the map), an ammunition depot of the 56th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed, and in Chasov Yar, a command post of the 24th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was also damaged. South of Chasov Yar, our units are pressing in the direction of the settlement of Stupochki (Ukrainian: "Stupochky"), attacking enemy positions along the 0504 highway (H32 on the map). Minefields are being installed on the road itself, preventing the enemy from carrying out counterattacks using their equipment. To the south of the highway, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting offensive operations from the area of ​​the previously occupied forest massif west of the Seversky Donetsk-Donbass Canal in the direction of the Yugo-Vostochny quarry.

In Toretsk, our army units have strengthened their positions in the city center and advanced in the southeastern part of the Zabalka district. Heavy urban fighting is underway without clear boundaries of the line of conflict. Both sides sometimes have positions in the same building. A large number of multi-story brick and reinforced concrete buildings, which are well-fortified strongholds in themselves, allow the enemy to hold back the advance of our forces. Therefore, the use of heavy artillery and aviation, which hit the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the buildings, plays a significant role.

The enemy also still holds one of the main (if not the most important) fortified areas - these are the waste heaps and the territory of the mine and the Centralnaya Coal Mining Plant, which is responsible for their defense in the Zabalka area. Our military has already entered the territory of the Coal Mining Plant and has secured several buildings, but the overwhelming majority of the fortified area is in the enemy's hands.

The recent liberation of Leonidovka and the advance in Shcherbinovka will allow further pressure to be exerted on this fortified area from different sides, and this will also complicate logistics (currently under fire control), which will ultimately affect the combat capability of the enemy in this fortified area and in the area as a whole.

In the Selidovsky sector, our military advanced west of Petrovka (Ukrainian: "Petrivka") in the direction of the settlement of Zholtoe (Ukrainian: "Zhovte"). Fighting for the settlement of Pustynka began. Along the railway, the fighting zone approached the bridge over the Solyonaya River. Further advancement along the railway will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces units located in the northern parts (across the river) of the settlements of Petrovka (Ukrainian: "Petrivka") and Grigorovka (Ukrainian: "Hryhorivka") to reach, in effect, the rear.

In the area of ​​the settlement Yuryevka, control of the territory was expanded. Our units also advanced in the settlement itself. In Ilyinka, the 114th brigade of the Russian army drove the enemy out of the settlement and took it completely under control, beginning clean-up and demining operations. It should also be noted that the distance from a number of our positions to the Pokrovsk-Novoolenevka-Andreevka road is approximately five kilometers, meaning it is already under fire from our side. This means that logistics along it are becoming unsafe for the enemy.

The enemy's situation in Kurakhovo is also not looking good for them. Our fighters are confidently advancing in the private sector of the eastern part of Kurakhovo (the city, not counting small areas beyond the reservoir, is divided into two parts by the Dolgaya ravine). About a third of the eastern part of the city has already come under the control of our fighters. There are also reports that we have consolidated our position in a school building. In the area of ​​the school, artillerymen of the 238th artillery brigade destroyed a bridge over a ravine, along which the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transporting ammunition, provisions, and reinforcements to the eastern part of Kurakhovo, with a precise strike from a 2A65 MSTA-B gun. The bridge had been mined in advance by the enemy in case of a retreat. The explosives they had planted detonated, increasing the effectiveness of the hit.

The enemy is gradually pulling its forces back beyond the Dolgaya ravine to the western part of the city, where it hopes to hold on to the multi-story buildings and industrial areas.

In the settlement of Dalnee, fighters of our units have consolidated their positions and are advancing deeper into the settlement, and north of Antonovka (Ukrainian: "Antonivka"), the collapse of the "pocket" occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces has accelerated.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that in the Velykaya Novoselka section of the Russian Armed Forces, the forces of the "East" group of forces liberated the settlement of Rovnopol (Ukrainian: "Rivnopil"). Our units also continued to advance deep into the enemy's defenses west of the settlement of Novodarovka (Ukrainian "Novodarivka") in the direction of the 0510 highway, which is one of the most important logistical routes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in this direction.

*Translator Note: You may remember our poll the other day about the naming of cities. For now, I'll be adding the Ukrainian names in parenthesis (as often as possible and where I believe it is necessary) so that members of the audience can find these places on western maps such as those provided by Google.