The pro-Ukrainian talkshow, Донбасс Реалии, recently published a note in its Telegram channel, describing how Russia is storming Kurakhove (Курахово). Located to the south of a reservoir called the sea of Kurakhove in southeastern Donetsk, the village is located to the southeast of the recently fallen village of Selydove, a village on the left, southwestern flank of Pokrovsk. The village is a part of a series of villages in area of responsibility for the Russian army groups, South and Center, that have fallen in rapid succession shortly after the fall of Vuhledar on October 1st, 2024.
These villages are Schachtarske, Novoukrainsk, Bohoyavlenka, Yasnia Polia, Kateryniwka, Yelizavetta, Kurakhowka, Kremmenaia Balka, Maksimailiwka, Ismailiwka, Oleksandropil, Hirnyk, Selydowe, und Wyschnewe, among many others that have just fallen or are about to fall soon. Illinka and Ostrivske, for instance, are two village about to fall soon. The cascading collapse of southeastern Donetsk villages less than two weeks after the fall of Vuhledar. [1] The fall of Vuhledar resulted primarily from a number of factors but resulted in the disintegration of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade.
The news agency, Донбасс Реалии, stated that Russia is storming Kurakhove from multiple directions: from the south in the direction of Yasnia Polia, from the north-east in the direction of Maksimailiwka, and from the north in the direction of Kremmenaia Balka. These are yet the only most obvious directions. Russia is storming Kurakhove now in a manner of ways, as the battlefield continues to shift as a result of Russia’s maneuver warfare.
The news agency, Донбасс Реалии, quoted an analytic as stating the following:«Ситуацию пытаются стабилизировать всеми возможными силами, но пока это не удается. Если россияне будут продолжать успехи в продвижениях, сохраняя нынешние темпы, то выход на трассу Н15 Запорожье-Донецк не за горами, что и даст возможность перекрыть важнейший и основной логистический путь в город», – написали аналитики.
The Н15 Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk highway is a significant roadway. The road stretches from the southeastern Donetsk agglomeration of villages in the contested Area of Responsibility to the Dnipro. It is alleged that the road takes no more than 30 minutes to traverse from Kurakhove to Zaporizhzia.
Russia only recently established an FPV-drone enclosure around the village, which closed all but the last remaining dirt passageways into the village; Ukrainians are already struggling to supply the last remaining, nearly encircled Ukrainian troops still defending the village. Kurakhove is thus expected to fall within the coming days.
Russia is currently preoccupied with improving its positions in the villages falling within the agglomeration around the Kurakhove reservoir. These operations are mainly concerned with stretching the line of combat in these villages from the center of these fallen villages to an extremity on the way to the next closest road way or village. These operations have successfully stretched the lines around Schachtarske, for instance. Schachtarske’s current lines have subsumed those of Novoukrainsk.
Russia primary target after the fall of Kurakhove is the village of Koctyantinopil, which is located southwest of Schachtarske and southwest of Ukrainsk. After the fall of Koctyantinopil, the Russians will have secure more than 699 square kilometers in the pocket between Schachtarske and Ukrainsk. The Russians have already reached Koctyantinopil. It is expected after the Russians stretch their lines in the southeastern Donetsk villages, they will extend the stretched lines to Koctyantinopil. The fall of Koctyantinopil signifies the beginning of Russia’s 2025 winter offensive on Zaporizhzhia, just as the fall of Selydove signified the beginning of Russia’s assault on the village of Pokrovsk, the largest, last stronghold before the Dnipro.
References
[1] – [“ВСУ не смогли адаптироваться к каскадному наступлению России,” Взгляд, 31 октября, 2024]