May 8-15 live war map: what's happening in other frontline areas while Russian forces divert focus to Kharkiv region

Robotyne and Staromayorske: revision of AFU counteroffensive

Both villages, which were the crowning achievements of Ukraine's summer counteroffensive, are under threat of reoccupation. In the central part of Robotyne, daily fighting has been going on for over a month, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces still control part of the village. Therefore, the occupation forces resumed their offensive from the left flank, where they managed to push back Ukrainian defense forces in two frontline areas west of Verbove. Thus, the Robotyne ledge has narrowed even further, which significantly complicates logistics and thus its maintenance.

In the Berdiansk direction, the Russian troops managed to break through Ukrainian defenses near Staromayorske and pushed the Ukrainian Armed Forces back a kilometer to the north. Fighting is currently taking place in the central part of the village, as well as on the southern outskirts of neighboring Urozhaine. The Russians are trying to carry out their favorite maneuver and bypass Staromayorske from the west and east. In case of final occupation of this village, the Defense Forces will have to withdraw from Urozhaine and move the front line closer to Makarivka.

Krasnohorivka on fire, changes over the week on the town map

The situation in the town has escalated significantly: The Ukrainian defense forces were forced to leave several districts, while Russia entered and consolidated their positions on the territory of the refractory plant in the southern part of the town and made significant advances from the Donetsk side. In fact, the Russian troops control about half of the city. The front line runs along the main street, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are defending the northwestern part. There are no industrial facilities here, but mostly private low-rise buildings, where it is difficult to defend against air strikes and artillery.

Offensive on Toretsk and Pokrovsk, the frontline is frozen

On the post-Avdiivka front, the Russian troops have exhausted their offensive potential, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have finally managed to stabilize the front line both north of Ocheretyne and along the road to Kostiantynivka and Toretsk. They tried to push Ukrainian soldiers further away from the southern flank of Ocheretyne, but failed. Thus, Ukraine still has a chance to recapture this strategically important village. At the same time, the occupation forces are preparing new reserves and deciding which direction to attack - Pokrovsk or Toretsk.

After crossing the Durna River and seizing Semenivka, the Russian armed forces expectedly continued to move west. However, their pace slowed down significantly and they managed to move only about a kilometer in a week. In the area of Umanske, Russia's army made several attempts to enter the village, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled all attacks and even expanded the gray zone. On the road to Pokrovsk, the Russians occupied several streets in the village of Netailove and came close to the road to Umansk, but they have not yet been able to cut it. The fact that the situation in this area has changed is clearly demonstrated by the shooting down of three Su-25 fighters and a Ka-52 helicopter in a short period of time. The Russian Armed Forces have once again ceased to dominate the skies in the Donetsk region with impunity.

Chasiv Yar - Victory Day failed, but it's not over

As expected, after the failure of the plan to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9, the Russian armed forces concentrated their efforts to break through into the town. Their main attack was directed along the Bakhmut-Chasiv Yar road through the village of Ivanivske to advance to the canal, cross it, and reach the southern outskirts of the city. They managed to implement part of their plan: they completely seized the road and approached the canal. Some assault units managed to cross to the right bank, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed them. Currently, the front line stretches along the canal, and the Russians are looking for ways to cross it. It is expected that in the near future they will try to attack the city head-on and enter the Canal area. Meanwhile, Ivanivske is practically occupied, although the Defense Forces still retain fire control over several streets in its southern part. At the same time, the presence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Klishchiivka does not allow the occupation forces to develop their offensive and bypass Chasiv Yar from the south. Therefore, Klishchiivka will be their next priority target.   

Siverskyi ledge is under threat again

We rarely mention the situation around the city of Siversk because there are virtually no changes on the front line, although, like in other areas, fierce fighting continues there every day. Especially in the area of Bilohorivka, where the Russian troops have been successfully draining their resources for almost 2 years.

However, this week the Defense Forces failed to hold the frontline south of Siversk, near the village of Vesele. Here, over a stretch of 8.5 kilometers, the Russian units advanced into Ukraine by a distance of 500 meters to a kilometer. Currently, stabilization battles are underway to prevent this offensive from developing, in which the Russians want to cut off the Siverskyi ledge.

Meanwhile, on the opposite - northern - flank, in the area of Lyman, the Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to hold the front and destroyed large hostile forces near the villages of Torske and Yampolivka.  

Russian army’s offensive in Kharkiv region

The Sever group of troops, which is spread across three neighboring Russian regions and has just over 50,000 troops, launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region, involving about 20,000 people and additional reserves. During the 5 days of the offensive, they managed to cross the border and penetrate 2-4 km into the territory of Ukraine.

The attack targeted two areas - the village of Lyptsi, 16 km from Kharkiv, and the city of Vovchansk, which protects the access to the left bank of the Siverskyi Donets River. In the Lyptsi area, the Russian army managed to capture 7 villages and expand the bridgehead to 13 km along the border. Near Vovchansk, the Russians occupied 3 villages and approached the northern outskirts of the city, where street fighting is taking place. In addition, they are trying to cross the Siverskyi Donets River from the west to outflank the Ukrainian Defense Forces in Vovchansk. The Ukrainian Armed Forces disrupted the formation of the river near the village of Hatyshche, so the occupation forces continued to move downstream, entered the village of Burhovatka and are trying to cross the river at this point. Fighting is currently ongoing here.

It is likely that in the near future, the Russian troops will open 1-2 more offensive directions, probably in the Sumy region near the border crossing in Velyka Pysarivka, as well as in the Kharkiv region near Kozacha Lopan.  

Obviously, the available resources will not allow the Russians to attack Kharkiv, but this is not their goal. They want to get as close to the city as possible to increase their own capabilities of terrorist destruction of Kharkiv with artillery and MLRS. In addition, Russia wants to withdraw the AFU reserves from Donetsk region, which they have partially succeeded in doing so so far, as the 3rd Assault Brigade, which is not used to being on the defensive, has begun operations here.

At the same time, the occupation of Vovchansk has no strategic significance, except for information.  

Within 5 days, it became obvious that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had managed to hold the line, and the pace of Russia's offensive had dropped significantly. Instead, everyone noticed how much the Russians' losses had increased. In one day, Ukrainian soldiers set an absolute record for the destruction of the Russian troops- 1700 soldiers, which is twice as many as usual. In May, the daily rate of decline of the occupatiob forces exceeded the rate of their mobilization, and this is a very good trend.

Russian refineries are burning in a second round

The expediency and fairness of strikes on Russian refineries has already been proven not only to Ukrainians but also to the whole world, so the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the Security Service of Ukraine and intelligence, continue to destroy new plants and have gone for a second round of attacks on previously hit facilities. So in 2 weeks, Ukrainian drones have hit the Ryazan, Volgograd, Ilya, Sloviansk and Kaluga refineries again. The first two are among the top 10 most powerful in Russia.

In addition, a series of explosions occurred at a plant in Salavat, Bashkortostan, 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This is a new record for the range of a hit. In addition, the production of new long-range drones has expanded the list of potential targets to include 4 more refineries in Bashkortostan, Perm and Orsk. In total, out of 32 refineries in Russia, only 5 are beyond Ukraine's capabilities so far. 17 refineries have already gotten acquainted with Ukrainian drones to some extent.

The maps were created based on information received from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as other open and verified sources. At the same time, the maps are not as accurate as possible and only conditionally reflect trends in the combat zone.