Ukraine takes another bite out of Russia as Moscow grinds on in Donetsk

Ukrainian forces launched a caller astonishment violative inside Russia, expanding their salient successful Kursk towards the northbound and east, arsenic Kyiv’s counterinvasion passed its five-month people this week.

Geolocated footage showed Ukrainian forces moving from their basal successful Sudzha towards Berdin, capturing fields and entering the colony connected Sunday.

By Monday, Ukrainian forces had besides captured the settlements of Russkoye Porechnoye and Novosotnitsky. All 3 settlements prevarication connected the main roadworthy betwixt Sudzha and the determination capital, Kursk.

Russian subject bloggers said Ukrainian forces besides held the settlements of Martynovka, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye and Mikhaylovka.

Ukrainian forces were reported to person precocious successful 3 waves utilizing company-sized assaults backed by armoured vehicles, the Russian bloggers said.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen visits the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, which was deed by a Russian rocket onslaught successful Kyiv [Alina Smutko/Reuters]

One of the reasons for their occurrence appeared to beryllium the effectual usage of physics warfare.

“Our drones can’t bash thing astir it yet, arsenic force EW (electronic warfare) has nailed them virtually to the ground,” 1 newsman wrote.

Ukrainian forces besides look to person utilized High Mobility Army Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to artifact Russian reinforcements.

“As successful August, the force is actively covering up his violative actions with HIMARS strikes,” wrote a Russian reporter. “He is trying to sound retired our suitable reserves, artillery and drone operators.”

(Al Jazeera)

Explosions were reported astatine an aviation method basal successful Kursk itself, astir 70km (40 miles) from Ukrainian-held areas. The Kursk subject operations office claimed to person changeable down much than 1 Ukrainian missile, suggesting others got through.

“Reports that Ukrainian forces are utilizing long-range fires to interdict Russian rear areas and EW to degrade Russian drones successful enactment of Ukrainian mechanised advances bespeak that Ukrainian forces operating successful Kursk are employing much effectual combined arms tactics,” wrote the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based deliberation tank.

In summation to missiles, Ukraine has utilized long-range drones of its ain physique to onslaught Russian vigor assets. A Ukrainian drone deed a terminal for state condensate transshipment successful the larboard of Ust-Luga, adjacent Leningrad, connected Saturday, causing a monolithic fire.

Ukrainian officials person listed a fig of reasons for the counterinvasion, main among them the concern of tens of thousands of Russian servicemen who would different beryllium attacking Ukrainian soil.

“The Russians person deployed their beardown units to the Kursk region. Soldiers from North Korea are progressive there. What’s important is that the occupier cannot presently redirect each this unit to different directions, successful peculiar the Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv oregon Zaporizhia regions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said successful an evening code connected Monday.

“Since the opening of the Kursk operation, the force has already mislaid implicit 38,000 troops successful this country alone, including astir 15,000 irrecoverable losses,” helium said.

(Al Jazeera)

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published a database of Russian instrumentality destroyed successful Kursk, including 104 tanks, 575 armoured combat vehicles, much than 1,000 different vehicles and 330 artillery systems.

Ukraine besides said it captured 860 Russians successful Kursk, utilizing them to speech for its ain POWs.

Are the Russians moving retired of tanks?

Russia has been capable to replace soldiers, but its quality to regenerate instrumentality is little certain.

Ukraine’s defence ministry estimated that during 2024 its forces had destroyed 3,689 Russian tanks, 8,956 armoured combat vehicles, and much than 13,000 artillery pieces. The Ukrainian Navy said it sank 5 ships and 458 smaller craft.

Russia has been pulling Soviet armour retired of retention and refurbishing it for combat. How agelong it tin proceed to bash truthful is unclear.

One show of Russian hardware estimated Russia had astir 48 percent of its tanks left, and a akin percent of its armoured warring vehicles, but outer photography suggested a precocious proportionality of them were successful specified mediocre information arsenic to beryllium unusable.

Gravediggers enactment during a ceremonial for Alexander Martemyanov, a freelancer for the Russian media outlet Izvestia, who was killed successful a drone onslaught portion travelling by car from Horlivka to Donetsk successful Russian-controlled Ukraine [Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated a twelvemonth agone that Russia had 2 to 3 years worthy of armour left.

Continued Russian assaults connected Ukrainian positions during the past week besides raised questions astir Russian armour.

Russian forces person focused overmuch of their manpower and firepower connected the duplicate settlements of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad successful Donetsk, and connected Friday they attacked 26 times on a beforehand 45km (30 miles) from the south.

“Fierce battles proceed on the full beforehand line, with the hottest spot being adjacent Pokrovsk,” Zelenskyy said successful his Saturday evening address.

On Tuesday, 41 combat clashes were successful this area, retired of 176 crossed the full front.

(Al Jazeera)

At the closest point, Russian forces held positions conscionable 1.5km (1 mile) from Pokrovsk, wherever 7,300 civilians were reportedly inactive surviving and working.

“The strength of the warring has changed, it has go greater. Now, other us, determination is simply a abstracted motorised firearm brigade and a motorised firearm regiment of the Russian Federation,” Serhiy Okishev, sergeant to the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade warring successful the Pokrovsk portion told a telethon.

However, helium pointed retired that Russian troops were utilizing less armoured vehicles and much buggies, play carts and civilian vehicles. It was unclear if this was owed to a dearth of armour successful the Russian arsenal oregon for manoeuvrability.

A spokesperson for Ukrainian forces successful Kurakhove likewise said connected Friday that “the Russians person switched to attacks exclusively by infantry successful the past fewer weeks, and if armoured vehicles are used, past lone for occurrence enactment and successful the assaults themselves bash not instrumentality part.”

“The Russians support their ain armoured vehicles arsenic acold arsenic imaginable due to the fact that they are precise acrophobic of our antitank rocket systems,” helium said.

Ukraine invests successful long-range and unmanned systems

Ukraine has invested heavy successful its ain defence manufacture during the past year, peculiarly successful unmanned systems of assorted kinds, wherever it is processing innovative tactics.

Ukraine’s subject quality connected Monday told Ukrainian quality outlet TSN that its Magura V oversea drone changeable down not 1 but 2 Russian Mi8 helicopters implicit the Black Sea connected December 31.

The onslaught took spot adjacent Cape Tarkhankut, 15km (10 miles) from Sevastopol.

Unit 13 of subject intelligence, liable for operating the Magura aboveground drone, laid a trap for Russian aviation, which is engaged to spot and destruct naval drones erstwhile they’re sighted. “In this peculiar operation, we did not person the task, arsenic usual, of hiding from aviation. We went specifically to hunt for aerial targets,” said an unidentified source.

Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said the equipped forces were “increasing the fig of brigades with a reinforced unmanned component” and creating a abstracted brigade for unmanned systems.

“Overall, successful December, operators of the Defense Forces of Ukraine deed implicit 54 1000 force targets. Almost fractional of this effect – 49 percent – provided by kamikaze drones,” helium wrote connected societal media.

(Al Jazeera)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyal connected Friday announced that Ukraine planned to physique astir 3,000 cruise missiles and drone missiles this year, and astatine slightest 30,000 long-range drones.

“As portion of the ‘Weapons of Victory’ project, we volition motorboat semipermanent contracts with manufacturers for 3-5 years. We volition wage peculiar attraction to the long-range constituent and rocket program,” Shmyal said.

The drone and rocket programmes were portion of a program to summation Ukraine’s defence concern capableness to astir $30bn, from an estimated $7bn successful 2024.

United States President-elect Donald Trump has promised to extremity the warfare this year, raising the imaginable of freezing the struggle on existent conflict lines.

Asked if helium was prepared to big a multinational unit of European peacekeepers successful Ukraine, Zelenskyy praised France for raising the imaginable but clarified that this should beryllium portion of a woody bringing Ukraine into NATO.

“It should decidedly beryllium connected the way to NATO. This does not mean that the deployment of European forces excludes a aboriginal successful NATO,” Zelenskyy said. “I saw that Trump is affirmative astir this idea.”

(Al Jazeera)