Russia launches offensive: frontline results of week. Overview of combat map

Military expert Serhiy Zgurets told about this in his military summary of the week.

Ukraine's Armed Forces won't leave Bakhmut because Russian troops can be destroyed further

January was a very tense month, with fighting going on along the entire frontline. The number of enemies destroyed is an indicator of intensity. More than 130,000 enemy servicemen were destroyed, which is almost the entire invading army. At that time, 180,000 personnel were engaged. When we talk about 130,000 killed plus wounded, the figures are significant. During all this time, the enemy did not achieve its main goals. The successes around Bakhmut are tactical. It has been taken for 6 months. If we count the advancement of 40 kilometers from Popasna, it is 3.5 kilometers per month. This is slow. The enemy has managed to take control of the town of Soledar with an area of 5 km by significant losses. Now the Russian forces are trying to hold these positions and to surround Bakhmut from the north and south. But they won't succeed.

About 40,000 Wagner soldiers were killed near Vuhledar, Soledar, and around Bakhmut. Now the Wagner army is slowly going into the shadows because of its losses.

According to the military, everything will be done in Bakhmut to ensure that the city remains our fortress. The enemy is trying to move from Klishchiivka to the Kostiantynivka - Bakhmut road and is now trying to advance to the settlements of Stupochky and Ivanivske, which lie on this road. Advances are minimal. The Ukrainian Armed Forces will continue to prevent further advancement on the road, although this road is risky due to mortar fire. However, no one intends to leave Bakhmut and allow the enemy to access the road.

Zelenskyy's statement that no one would surrender Bakhmut was a response to Western media reports. They said that Ukraine should drag out the fighting in the Bakhmut area and wait for foreign weapons, but if there are risks, it should leave the city. This is the assessment of foreign journalists and experts who do not feel what is happening in the city.

The president's statement is an indicator that we will continue to hold this area. It allows us to continue to grind the enemy's manpower, and the supply is not only the routes that may be under Russian fire. There are routes that run past Chasiv Yar and allow us to continue supplying Bakhmut with everything we need. The city is surrounded by fortifications from all directions. Only in the east are Russians trying to enter the gray zone.

Fighting in the area of Opytne and Ivanhrad. There, the enemy has pushed into urban areas. This is not critical, because the Defense Forces have also deployed assault units there that can effectively destroy the enemy in urban areas. And this will be another feature of the fighting in Bakhmut - fighting in the buildings, which will cost the enemy significant losses.

Russians are trying to reach the highways in the north and south. In the north, Krasna Hora continues to be defended by our military. The enemy is trying to push through, but without much success, so they are trying to expand their operations towards Siversk. They are unable to move because of the road, railroad and river that separate Krasna Hora from our defense lines. We understand the risk to the forces in Bakhmut, because the roads to Siversk, Sloviansk and Kostiantynivka affect their supply. But there are other routes that can supply the city. What our soldiers are doing demonstrates the power of our potential. If there is more foreign artillery, it will be a positive factor in destroying the Russians even more effectively.

In the Soledar area, a significant amount of enemy force is still being destroyed, despite the fact that the Russians believe they have created a dominant environment. Our artillery allows us to continue to grind the enemy in this area of the front.

Russia has launched an offensive, but there will be no massive attack

On the frontline from Svatove and Kreminna and even higher, the Russians have amassed a significant amount of manpower, equipment and weapons, and have mined the area. Although the frontline is not moving, both sides are amassing forces. The enemy is resorting to counterattacks to push back our units that previously attacked Dibrova. Now they are trying to move towards Torske, to reach the direction of Lyman and put pressure on Ukrainian troops. The Lyman direction is now considered one of the most dangerous because of the number of troops in this area, near Starobilsk, on the state border in the north (20,000 reserve forces). One expert assessment is that this ongoing offensive has significant momentum to ensure movement to Lyman and possibly even Izium.

The enemy has already launched offensive actions. They are taking place in the Svatove-Kreminna area due to the accumulation of efforts. Other areas include Bakhmut and Soledar and the south. Talk of a major offensive from the north (Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv) is an exaggeration. Today, Russia does not have sufficient forces for a multilateral offensive. They currently have 320,000 personnel, and 150,000 are still being trained somewhere. All these forces are already involved somewhere. Russia has another month and a half to make a maximum breakthrough.

The direction from Belarus is complicated: swamps, mines in all directions where the enemy can advance. Our units are ready for any action from there. Now, when we talk about Belarus, we fall into a circle of information dependence. The enemy's manpower is quite limited, concentrated in the north of Luhansk region and in the south near Vuhledar.

Valuiky - Kupiansk is one of the offensive directions that Russia is starting to implement today to ensure a kind of coverage. From the south, the occupying forces are attacking Vuhledar, then they want to go to Kurakhove and further north to connect with the Kupiansk group. The enemy theoretically plans an operational encirclement, but these are wishes that are always dashed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces' reality on the battlefield.

Russian offensive on Vuhledar may repeat the fate of Bakhmut

Throughout the week, the Russian army attempted to break through to Vuhledar. This direction is strategically important for them for three reasons. The first is to move our defense line away from transportation routes to secure a transportation corridor. The second is to provide access to the Kurakhove thermal power plant, which is an energy facility.  The third is to try to develop the offensive on Pokrovske and move towards those troops who may be able to make their way south from Izium if the offensive is successful. Around Vuhledar, a lot of marines have been deployed once again. Yesterday a tank with marines was destroyed and two marines were taken prisoner. The offensive on Vuhledar was repelled, and the enemy is losing a significant amount of strength there, but is pulling up new troops and trying to organize an offensive. I think it will be the same story as around Bakhmut.