Weekly Russia-Ukraine war summary: Russian troops sent into battle on crutches, AFU retreat from Velyka Novosilka, clashes in Kursk

In the Pokrovsk direction, Russian troops continued their attempts to flank the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad agglomeration. On the western flank, despite Ukrainian counterattacks, they managed to gain control of a section of the Pokrovsk-Mezhova highway and began advancing toward a key logistical route along the highway to Pavlohrad. On the eastern flank, a road bridge at the Myrnohrad-Kostiantynivka junction was blown up.

In the Kurakhove operational area, Russian forces are mounting pressure on Andriivka as they attempt to encircle Ukrainian troops defending a “pocket” west and southwest of the captured town of Kurakhove. According to self-styled Russian “war correspondent” Yuri Kotenok, the “neck” of this potential “pocket,” running between Konstyantynivka in the south and Andriivka in the north, has significantly tightened. Simultaneously, attacks inside the “pocket” are being carried out toward Dachne (west of Kurakhove) and Yantarne (southwest of the city). Positional battles near Kurakhove indicate that the city's capture by Russian troops has not resulted in the “operational breakthrough” announced by Russia's Defense Ministry on Jan. 6, 2025.

In the Vremivka salient, Russian troops have been mounting assaults on Velyka Novosilka since the beginning of the week. These have resulted in the Russian flag being raised in the center of the village. Maps compiled by Ukrainian open source intelligence (OSINT) project DeepState have marked the rest of the town as a “gray zone,” and the channel’s analysts have expressed their hope that the AFU will manage to avoid “senseless losses of Ukrainian military personnel.” It appears that the Ukrainian garrison is either in the process of retreating or has fully evacuated Velyka Novosilka.