The new year started for Ukraine with the prospect of losing a major city in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian media also report Russian troops advancing in various combat areas.
Loss of Kurakhove
According to Deep State, an online open-source military intelligence map, Russian forces advanced near Kurakhove. They moved west of the city, along the main highway leading to the Zaporizhzhia region.
Besides Kurakhove, the Russian army is also advancing near Oskil and Pokrovsk. Russian soldiers seized the village of Vozdvyzhenka in the Donetsk region. Beyond the advance from Shevchenko to Andriivka, Russian forces also continue to advance in the Toretsk area. The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are also at risk of losing Novovasylivka and Druzhkivka.
According to Ukrainian media, the AFU in Kurakhove is one step away from being surrounded. Russian troops took almost the entire industrial zone in the area. Together with reports of the capture of a major highway towards the Zaporizhzhia region, this could mean the likely encirclement of the city.
The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Kurakhove resembles the retreat from Chasiv Yar. However, the AFU left the city so swiftly now that the Russian forces almost did not need to launch airstrikes on the city.
Our van didn’t make it. The men are getting out. Some get in, some get out. You hear that, right? (…) Grandpa’s van’s parked, fu**ing smashed to bits.
Army reserves issues
According to Ukrainian sources, the 150th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the AFU was reorganised into the 40th coastal defence brigade and transferred to the subordination of the 30th Marine Corps of the Ukrainian Navy.
The unit received Dutch YPR-765 APCs with an Australian combat module and grenade launchers. Earlier, the Ukrainian command re-formed its combat units due to a shortage of equipment and manpower.
Ukrainian media previously reported significant challenges in the 152nd brigade. It started to be formed in September 2023, initially as a mechanised brigade, but was reorganised into a motorised infantry brigade, then back into a mechanised brigade. According to military reports, the command took between 300 and 800 soldiers each month, replenishing the brigade with recruits.
However, by September 2024, the brigade was reorganised into a light infantry unit and sent to Pokrovsk. The brigade was not fully deployed to Pokrovsk, with smaller units being attached to other formations. As a result, more than 10 officers have either transferred or want to transfer to another unit due to conflicts with the brigade’s chief of staff.
The French-trained 155th Mechanised Brigade was also partially re-formed upon arrival in Ukraine.
AFU in Kursk region
Meanwhile, the AFU commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited the Kursk region, according to Ukrainian media. There, he held an award ceremony for the military, labelling the retention of the Russian military as the reason for the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
On 1 January, the North group of troops continued military operations in the Kursk Region. The assault units advanced in the forest belts of the Sudzha district, as well as in the vicinity of Leonidovo and Kurilovka.
Reacting to the threat, Syrskyi ordered the transfer of the last reserves from Donbas to the Kursk region, to the Sudzha area. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian command began to realise the consequences of Syrskyi’s decisions for the AFU brigades. However, experts assume that the responsibility will be put on brigade commanders, accusing them of misleading the Ukrainian General Staff.
