Russian troops in Donetsk “are advancing much faster than in the whole of 2023” – ISW

Recently, the Russian military in Donbas has been advancing much faster than in the whole of 2023, but the pace of their advance is still significantly inferior to that of the forces of the Russian Federation in the first month of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note.

“Recent confirmed successes of Russian troops on the battlefield near Vugledar and Velika Novosilka demonstrate that the war in Ukraine has not come to a dead end. The front line in the Donetsk region is becoming more and more volatile, as Russian troops have recently advanced much faster than during the entire year of 2023,” the experts point out.

According to their conclusions, the advance of Russian troops is to a large extent “the result of the identification and tactical use of vulnerable places on Ukrainian lines.”

“Russian troops are making a gradual tactical advance in the south-east of Ukraine from the fall of 2024. Russian forces, in particular, have not been able to resume the operational maneuvers seen during the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and Russia’s current tactical advances, while now faster than in the months of the positional war… are still well below the pace of Russia’s advance in March 2022.” – say ISW analysts.

At the end of last week, the Reuters agency, citing a high-ranking Ukrainian military source, wrote that in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, due to Russian counterattacks, Ukraine lost more than 40% of the territory it captured during hostilities in August.

By advancing on Kursk, the UAF aimed to stop Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to withdraw its forces, and give Kyiv additional leverage in any future peace negotiations. But Russian troops continue to advance in the Donetsk region.