By Anonymous
Situation on November 16
In the east of the city in the zone of action of the enemy's 51st army, the enemy, despite the breakthrough to 3 schools, encountered fierce resistance and was unable to advance further. In addition, the light fortifications built in this part of the city, albeit hastily, are giving their short-term effect. After a short pause, the enemy resumed air raids on the city. Bombings have been carried out continuously for the last 4 days, in particular FAB-1500.
To the north of the city, the enemy is making every effort to reach the Solntsevka - Stary Terny line and create a threat of encirclement of the units defending here. To implement these plans, it is actively advancing along the Kurakhov reservoir in the direction of Berestka. To solve this task, at least 4 brigades have been concentrated here.
To the southeast - the enemy has advanced to Dalne and indicated its intentions to create a threat to the encirclement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Yelizavetivka-Uspenivka line. The deterioration of the situation here can only be countered by a planned organized withdrawal to previously prepared positions, which are not available at Kurakhove.
Further south - the enemy has taken a pause and reduced the pace of its advances near the Sukhyi Yaly River to a minimum. It is likely preparing to break through the defense at the Kostiantynopolske-Uspenivka line to create a threat of encirclement from the south. Simultaneously with this direction of the main strike, an exit to the Kostiantynopolske-Ulakli line to block Kukrahovo from the west is considered.
Transfer of reserves
Over the past two weeks, Russian reserves have been transferred to the Kurakhove direction from the occupied part of Zaporizhia. In addition, reserves are being brought up from deep within the territory. The nature and number of personnel and equipment arriving indicate that the Russians have no intention of limiting themselves to eliminating only the “Kurakhove salient” by the New Year (according to the occupiers’ interceptions, the “final solution to the Kurakhove issue” should take place by the end of November).
The enemy, probably, through its active advance, has seen a window of opportunity for implementing more ambitious plans in the medium term.
This could be an offensive along the Donetsk-Zaporizhia highway to reach the border of the Donetsk region. Due to the fact that our main lines of defense were built in the hope of a Russian offensive in the south of the Zaporizhia region, the enemy's advance south of Pokrovsk - north of the Kurakhiv storage gives the occupiers the opportunity to reach the flank of the defense line. For this purpose, the saturation of the "Center" group with reserves continues, the brigades of which are currently operating in the Pokrovsk direction and, in particular, north of Kurakhiv. And the exit to the Solntsevka - Stary Terny line may become the starting point for the implementation of such a scenario.
At the same time, the shorter "shoulder" of the transport probably contributes to the fact that the reserve units of the "East" group, aimed at storming Kurakhiv from the south, will be saturated the fastest.
Contrary to the unreliable information spread, primarily by enemy resources, no withdrawal from Kurakhove is planned in the near future. Reserves are arriving in the Kurakhove direction: new units and brigades.
The situation is becoming more complicated north of the city in the Berestka area. With great efforts, the situation in Solntsevka is stabilizing.
Further south near Dalne (captured by the occupiers), the enemy is expanding the zone of control to the north and south and is forming a punching fist for attacks on both Kurakhove (from the south) and Uspenivka in order to close the ring.
The battle continues.
Regarding the information “there are 5.5 km left before the closure of the AFU in Kurakhove”, spread by a well-known German publication
Yesterday it was reported that new units arrived in the direction to maintain the situation in the “half-boilers”. In connection with this, it was possible to temporarily stop the enemy south of the village of Sukhi Yaly. No withdrawals are planned. Alongside us, the 33rd, 79th and 241st brigades are fighting at the limit of their capabilities.
At the same time, the fighting on the southern face of the Kurakhove direction shifted towards the village of Rozdolne, where the enemy was able to advance and gain a foothold. Access to the village of Bogatyr after Rozdolne will allow the occupiers to partially “solve” the issue of destroying the rear communications of the AFU units in Kurakhove. Another option would be to cover Velyka Novoselka from the north with cutting the route to Bogatyr. Unfortunately, the enemy is increasingly using its advantage - a large variability of actions in any direction convenient for it.
In general, the situation in the direction is extremely difficult, all units have switched to the mode of conducting rearguard battles. In this regard, information on the topic "5.5 kilometers to the AFU boiler" is of a speculative, clickbait nature, which does not characterize the situation.
Northern sector and city center
Over the past 7 days, the situation in the Kurakhove direction has deteriorated significantly. The enemy continues to advance.
Due to the fact that, having advanced in the city center, the enemy will encounter a heavily fortified industrial zone in the west of the city and high-rise buildings in the center, he concentrated his main efforts on the north of the city in order to bypass Kurakhove from the rear.
By bypassing from the north, the Berestka-Ilyinka direction plans to advance and capture Stary Terny. The capture of Stary Terny will make the defense of the Kurakhove industrial zone practically impossible. In addition, in such conditions, there is a threat of bypassing the city from the north with the cutting of the Kurakhove-Zaporizhzhia highway, which, according to the enemy's plan, should also force the Armed Forces of Ukraine to withdraw from the city. This will allow him to avoid a frontal assault on the central and western parts of the city. Unfortunately, so far this plan is being partially implemented, but not as quickly as the occupiers would like, thanks to the resistance of the brigades in and around the city. Over the past few days, the enemy has been stopped in the city center.
Over the past few days, the enemy has twice demonstrated that it can radically change its plans at the tactical level and translate them into operational success.
The first time, on November 17, with a strike on Rozdolne, it changed the direction of its active actions to the south of Kurakhovo and instead of attacking Konstantinopolske to reach the rear of the Kurakhovo garrison, it turned west towards Velikaya Novoselka. Thus, reaching the rear of the SOU units near the villages of Blagodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka, sharply worsening their tactical position. The strike was safely missed by the OTU intelligence, which reported to the OSUV and further, further up. (By the way, where Syrsky's antagonists immediately took advantage of this and through a number of OPshny channels reported "about the breakthrough of the orcs in Velikaya Novoselka", putting all the blame immediately on the commander-in-chief. In terms of the essence of what is happening - partially true, but in terms of the form of bringing information to the public - not true at all).
The second time, on the night of November 24, a breakthrough near the small village of Zhovte south of Pokrovsk. This breakthrough aims to reach Novotroitsky, but then with a high degree of probability, it will begin to turn into a "southern capture of the Pokrovsk fortress". Only Muchnoy was the first to draw attention and mark the direction of this strike, and he marked it on the map - Deep State. At the same time, the breakthrough in the Zhovte area may also have a political goal - to the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region about 15 kilometers, and reaching it will add new inputs to the equation of the end of the war. The same goal is pursued by the Russian troops in the area of Novodarivka and Rivnopil (7 km from the regional border).
Conclusion
The enemy is constantly changing the direction of its main attack and acting in a variable manner. At the same time, the enemy can afford not to follow the expectations of the "experts", who, without coming to their senses, had designated Pokrovsk as the main target back in the spring and were waiting for it to start storming it head-on. In addition, the occupiers are linking the political goals of the war with the military and are acting in the long term, which in principle is the basis of the strategy. In response to this, we are demonstrating media coherence in defending the interests of various political groups, skills in the "Game of Thrones", as well as another masterpiece in the form of "Counteroffensive-2025".