In the southern Donetsk region, Russian forces have continued to advance along the Vremivka salient and the remaining portion of the salient near the town of Kurakhove. In recent days, they have captured the village of Neskuchne and nearly completed the occupation of the village of Vremivka, leaving only its northern outskirts outside their control, according to maps. As a result, the village of Velyka Novosilka is now in an even more precarious position, approaching complete encirclement. To minimize losses, we believe it would be prudent for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to withdraw from the area in the near future.
In the Kurakhove direction, according to DeepState, the Russian Armed Forces have captured the village of Yantarne in the Sukhi Yaly River valley, where the Russian flag had previously been raised by RuAF soldiers. This leaves the village of Dachne as the only remaining settlement in the bulge near Kurakhove not under Russian control. Russian troops continue advancing along the northern bank of the Vovcha River from the village of Shevchenko toward Andriivka. There is a crossing in the village of Kostiantynopil just to the south of Andriivka. Whether the crossing has survived months of fighting remains unclear. Holding the remaining pocket west of Kurakhove seems untenable for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and an organized withdrawal...
On Jan. 11, the Ukrainian project DeepState acknowledged that the town of Kurakhove had been fully captured. Currently, fighting is underway in two settlements in this area: the village of Dachne, located west of Kurakhove along the N-15 highway connecting the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, and the village of Yantarne, situated south of Dachne in the Sukhi Yaly River valley. In Yantarne, Russian forces have raised their flag, with video footage showing them moving freely within the village. The Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed full control over Yantarne. DeepState has reported advances by the Russian Armed Forces in Yantarne but has not confirmed its complete capture.
In the Vremivka salient, where the village of Velyka Novosilka has been partially encircled since early Dec. 2024, no significant developments have occurred over the past two weeks. Despite the limited number of troops that would be needed to complete the encirclement, Russian forces have not made further advances in the area.
The next sitrep will be in two weeks, on Jan. 10.
On the Vremivka salient, the village of Makarivka has completely come under Russian control. According to the DeepState project, Ukrainian units that were encircled in the area managed to break out.
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The DeepState monitoring project reported that by the end of the week, the pocket in the Sukhi Yaly River valley in the Kurakhove direction had been entirely overrun by Russian forces, with some Ukrainian troops unable to retreat in time. The entrenched practice of holding pockets of territory at seemingly any cost has caused vulnerabilities along various sections of the frontline and risks facilitating the creation of a much larger bulge around Kurakhove. Had the Armed Forces of Ukraine redeployed reinforcements and withdrawn troops from this pocket to other positions, Russian advances in the Kurakhove and South Donetsk directions might have been significantly slower, potentially averting the encirclement of the Kurakhove fortified area.
Over the past few days, there have been virtually no significant changes on the frontline in Ukraine. The Russian Armed Forces have made minor advances in the South Donetsk direction, near the villages of Novyi Komar and Makarivka, located to the north and south of Velyka Novosilka, respectively.
At the Vremevsky ledge, the Russian Armed Forces have recently reoccupied the previously liberated village of Novyi Komar, once again partially encircling the village of Velyka Novosilka. Additionally, to the south, Russian forces forded the Mokri Yaly River near the occupied village of Blahodatne and began advancing northeast from the village of Rivnopil, targeting the villages of Neskuchne and Storozheve.