Russian forces have made incremental gains across different parts of the front line this week, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), whose maps show the latest state of play in the war.
In its Wednesday update, the Washington D.C. think tank said that Russia had advanced in the Kursk oblast, where Ukraine faces a fierce fight to hold onto territory captured in its incursion launched on August 6.
The ISW said that geolocated footage showed elements of Russia’s 104th Airborne Regiment had advanced in a platoon-sized mechanized assault southeast of the town of Korenevo.
Pro-Russian military bloggers also said there were advances by Moscow near the village of Darina, where Ukrainian forces had been counterattacking.
In Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Russia’s offensive along the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line Wednesday saw marginal advances near Dvorichna, north of Kupiansk where fighting rages on the outskirts of the settlement, according to a Russian military blogger.
The ISW map shows some of these developments, including a Russian Defense Ministry claim on Tuesday that Moscow had captured the village of Kopanky. The Kremlin’s forces have advanced southeast and south of Pokrovsk, the logistics hub whose seizure by Moscow would boost its aim of capturing the rest of the Donetsk region.
CNN reported Thursday that Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk had complained that personnel shortages could allow Russia to make a significant breakthrough in the area.
A lack of infantry has meant that drones are being used to strike advancing Russian units, the soldiers said.
As an example of the personnel problems Kyiv faces, a Ukrainian commander told the channel that Selydove, a key town outside of Pokrovsk which Russia had captured, had been defended by only 60 troops who were quickly encircled and forced to retreat.
The ISW’s latest map of the region marked Russia’s seizure of Beretsky on Wednesday, Rozodolne further south the previous day and Lyshychne on Monday. There were also reported advances by Moscow north of Kurakhove.
The think tank said earlier this week that Russian troops could soon envelop the town of Velyka Novosilka which would threaten Ukrainian supply lines leading to Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState raised the alarm with its assessment that last week saw Russia’s biggest advances of the year and, in October, Russia made the most gains since the start of the war.
This momentum comes amid concerns about what the incoming Donald Trump administration will mean for continued U.S. support for Kyiv’s fight against Russian aggression.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries via email for comment.
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