Translated material
War
One thousand and forty-eighth day. The Russian army captured another important logistics hub of Donbass - the city of Kurakhovo
Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Our chronicle is published once a day, and in it we dwell in detail on several key stories that are affecting the course of the war right now. We also publish your letters in these materials, because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Please share your personal war stories with us. Find the feedback form at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .
Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the complete capture of the city of Kurakhovo in the Donetsk region
The Russian military department reported on the “liberation” of Kurakhovo on January 6, calling this city “the largest populated area in the southwestern part of Donbass” and “a powerful fortified area with a developed network of long-term firing points and underground communications” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the defense of Kurakhovo, which lasted two months, the Ukrainian Armed Forces involved over 15 thousand military personnel, but as a result, “the enemy lost 80% of its personnel (more than 12 thousand people) and about three thousand units of various weapons and military equipment.”
“Establishing control over this important logistics hub significantly complicated the logistics and technical support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in the Donetsk direction, depriving the Kiev regime of the opportunity to fire from artillery systems at the civilian population of the city of Donetsk. After the capture of Kurakhovo, Russian troops entered the operational space. This will allow us to increase the pace of liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The battles for Kurakhovo continued from mid-October 2024, when the Russian army intensified its offensive in the Pokrovsky direction. The city, located on the banks of the Kurakhovskoe Reservoir, is home to a thermal power plant - it was put out of action due to Russian shelling and the surviving equipment was dismantled for use at other damaged energy facilities in Ukraine. The Donetsk-Zaporozhye highway also passes through Kurakhovo.
According to the latest military reports from Meduza, the assault groups of the Russian Armed Forces reached the center of Kurakhovo by mid-December. They planted the Russian flag over the city administration and almost completely surrounded the city from the north, east and south. Then the Ukrainian Armed Forces continued to control the industrial zone of the Kurakhovskaya Thermal Power Plant and the Pipe Plant in the west of the city.
Ukrainian troops were driven out of the industrial zone a few hours before the onset of 2025. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine maintain positions only in the village of Dachnoye, the nearest settlement adjacent to Kurakhovo, our “Analysis” department confirms.
The actual occupation of Kurakhovo is also reflected on the map of military operations , which is compiled by the OSINT project DeepState, close to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. On January 5, Ukrainian analysts reported another advance of Russian troops in this area.
On the morning of January 6, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that the Defense Forces had repelled 27 enemy attacks in the Kurakhovsky direction. At the same time, the operational-strategic group of troops “Khortitsa” reported that Russian troops were conducting “assault operations in the urban areas” of Kurakhovo, in the direction of Petropavlovka and Dachnoye. “Measures continue to identify and destroy enemy assault groups trying to infiltrate our battle formations,” the Khortytsia message said .
Russian troops have accelerated the pace of seizing territories in the Donbass, but so far have had success only in one strategic direction - and have not figured out how to break through the entire depth of Ukrainian defenses, Meduza military experts note . The Russian military has actually surrounded units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine several times in different sectors of the front (as was the case in Kurakhovo), but the Ukrainian military has always escaped from such “cauldrons.” In the current conditions, the parties are only able to continue the war of attrition, the Analysis department concludes.
War through the eyes of Meduza readers
Evgeniy (Kiev) . You know, of course, I was also tired, like everyone else. But it’s somehow both offensive and funny for me to read these letters from Russians who are also “tired.” But how do you know? How do you know what it’s like to sit in the bathroom with your wife and children at night, because dozens of suicide bombers are being shot down outside your window, and they can very easily fly into your window? What is it like when everyone has a dead friend, or acquaintance, or brother, or classmate. What is it like to feel that supporting the army is your personal responsibility, because the country simply cannot cope, and each of us must help. What is it like to lose your home or even your entire city. I find it funny that you think your “problems” are even remotely real. It’s also funny that it’s always not you, but some politicians who are to blame. The comrade from Dnepr wrote everything correctly - no one is personally responsible for this, but each of you has a 1/140-millionth part of the blame. Is it a lot or a little? <…>
You are so surprised that we hate (all) Russians. It’s all very simple - you did it yourself with us. Before the war, all these myths about the Nazis and Russophobia were at the level of funny memes, but now everything has changed. <…>
I can't sleep well, I can't have children or go on vacation, I can't fly or even see planes in the sky. I cannot relax even for a second of my life, and this is how the whole country lives. But you can do all this, almost none of you personally were affected by this, milk has become more expensive, that’s the problem. And after that you have the nerve to say that you are tired.
And let’s say the war ends tomorrow. How can I trust you? Not *uylu, but here you, ordinary people. He will die, but someone like him will take his place - and you will again pretend that this does not concern you, and in ten years war will come to my house again, and you will think that [you] had nothing to do with it. We never had hatred, anger or disdain for you, honestly, imagine - it was all just propaganda that poisoned people for years. But now it’s all like this: the prophecy has been fulfilled, and we hate every Russian. Because each of you brought a small piece of pain into our home, and [you] still continue to do so.