With the front boiling and the Ukrainian defensive lines breaking one after another, the war in Ukraine is entering a new, unpredictable phase.
With negotiations at an extremely critical moment, Russia and Ukraine are deploying all available weapons.
Rumors, denials, old footage, and harsh testimonies compose an explosive mosaic, where propaganda collides with reality.
The Russian army continues to advance in all sectors of the front and now targets the strongest Ukrainian fortifications in Donbass, where the Ukrainians are trying to regroup their forces and play their last card.
However, the news for them is bad.
Information indicates that there is ferment, at the brink of mutiny, with soldiers handing over to the Russians the commanders who refuse to give the order to retreat or surrender, insisting on fighting until the last one.
Staging ground Siversk
Starting from the liberated Siversk, the Russian Armed Forces are attacking in three directions.
In the northern sector, fierce battles are taking place near Zakotne.
At the same time, the advance continues toward Illichivka, with the capture of fortified positions of the Ukrainian forces.
In the southern sector, the Russians are developing their successes, advancing toward Kirovo (Sviato-Pokrovske), where more than 500 meters have been liberated.
“They have entrenched themselves in new positions.
The resistance of the opponent here is fragmentary.
In addition, attacks are being launched from Vasiukivka,” reported Russian fighters, authors of the channel «Дневник десантника» on Telegram.
Strong fortifications fall within hours
According to information from the channel «Шёпот фронта» on Telegram, the Russian army expelled the Ukrainian Armed Forces from a significant fortified area west of Siversk.
This was the last major fortified point, which had been under construction since 2022.
In this fortified area there were concrete artillery positions, barbed wire, underground passages, as well as an extensive trench network.
The Russian assault on a similar object near Avdiivka lasted several months, while this fortified point of the Ukrainian forces was surrendered within two days:
“The liberation of the position will give the Russian army the opportunity to advance confidently further west, into the fields between the settlements Zakotne and Reznykivka, toward Kryva Luka, the liberation of which will allow an advance toward Mykolaivka, creating a threat to the Ukrainian forces already on the outskirts of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.”
They cannot
The Ukrainian group in Sloviansk lacks the ability to assist the units of the Ukrainian forces retreating from Siversk.
Any movement on the Siversk – Sloviansk highway is immediately suppressed by artillery fire and Russian unmanned aerial vehicles in this sector.
In the Pokrovsk direction, Russian troops repelled a Ukrainian counterattack on the northern outskirts of Pokrovsk from the side of Shevchenko. It is reported that the Russian Armed Forces improved their positions in the Rivne area near Myrnohrad.
In the Dobropillia direction, fighting is taking place in the areas of Volodymyrivka and Sofiivka.
In the Kostiantynivka direction, battles continue south and southeast of Kostiantynivka.
Where do they find reserves from?
“The situation in the sector is difficult, the Ukrainian forces once again threw in reserves and are trying to recapture Sofiivka.
In the Sofiivka area they have transferred additional reserves, gathered their best unmanned aerial vehicle crews, they control the sky to such an extent that you cannot even raise your head,” notes the channel «Дневник десантника».
Where do they find reserves from.
First, in terms of personnel numbers in Europe, the Ukrainians are in second place after Turkey in terms of the number of soldiers.
Second, at this moment a huge number of mercenaries from Latin America are being mobilized.
We do not retreat
For now, according to reports from fighters in the field, the Ukrainians have entrenched themselves in Sofiivka.
They act as usual, first a swarm of drones, then infantry, this tactic is used in all their counterattacks:
“I want to say to those who see everything as lost, even if we retreat in certain sectors, we do it to preserve the lives of personnel, bring in reserves, strengthen the rear, activate artillery and aviation and then destroy the enemy and recapture positions.
All this is the reality of combat operations, it is not like running from the couch to the fridge and the television.”
They repel counterattacks in Kupyansk
“In the Kupyansk direction, Russian troops are repelling counterattacks by the opponent from the west, while battles are taking place for Kupyansk-Uzlovyi.
In the Vovchansk direction, there is an advance in Vilcha and Prylypka, as well as in the area of the Vovchanski Khutory,” reported the war correspondent Semyon Pegov, creator of the channel «WarGonzo».
“The story with Kupyansk, which the Ukrainian forces decided to hold with the most trained and equipped units, may soon present Oleksandr Syrsky with a difficult choice.
For Russia, what is happening around Kupyansk came as a surprise, largely an unpleasant one, but for the Ukrainian forces this situation may have much heavier consequences.
The resources of the two sides here are disproportionate, since solving two tasks simultaneously, holding the city and at the same time continuing battles around it, is much more difficult for Ukraine than for Russia,” reports the channel «Военная хроника».
Brigades and reserves from everywhere
Analysts believe that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will maintain activity for some more time within Kupyansk itself and around it.
They will continue to transfer reserves and try to contain the pressure.
However, Russia has more reserves.
And precisely this, over time, will become the decisive factor.
To hold the extensive section of the front behind Kupyansk, with an area of approximately 75 square kilometers, Oleksandr Syrsky was forced to withdraw about two brigades from the Sumy region, another two from the Chernihiv region, reserves from Poltava and Chernivtsi, as well as part of the forces from the Zaporizhia region.
Attack on Kharkiv
In the Sumy region this has already led to a Russian breakthrough in Andriivka, with most of the settlement under control.
It also became possible to move the front from Oleksiivka by 400 meters, something particularly important when all conditions are taken into account:
“It is entirely possible that Russia will need to respond with its own reinforcement, however the extent to which these efforts by the Ukrainian forces are rational remains unclear.
The military logic is understandable, if the territories behind Kupyansk are liberated by Russia quickly enough, then the Russian army will gain the ability to further develop its offensive toward Chuhuiv and Kharkiv, something that the Ukrainian side cannot allow.”
Propaganda war
Against the backdrop of the latest developments, the situation around the Kupyansk direction is surrounded by all kinds of rumors.
The Ukrainians are trying to maintain the initiative in informing about what is happening around the city and regularly publish archival material from the battles there in the media.
In one of these videos, the actions of fighters of the Khartia corps are recorded, where, as they claim, they allegedly penetrated to the Oskil river, completely cutting off the supply lines of the Russian army, and are conducting battles “north of the city”.
In the footage, the entrance sign of Kupyansk is visible, which, however, is located in the southern part of the settlement.
In reality, this sign had already been destroyed before 11 November, something confirmed by objective control material with a destroyed armored M113 next to it.
And the rest of the events in the video also occurred at the latest before 2–3 weeks.
One month later, Russian soldiers published aerial surveillance footage of the same area, where the same armored vehicle is visible next to the destroyed entrance sign.
In the Khartia video the vehicle appears intact.
This means that it is stored “canned” material, at least one month old.
“The opponent took advantage of the opportunity given by false reports about ‘clearances’.
Ukrainian formations present edited material from 1 to 1.5 months earlier with the aim of misleading public opinion and creating chaos in on site command.
The situation in the city indeed remains difficult, neither side can seize the initiative in the battles.
Under these conditions, calmness and constant verification of the reliability of published data are required,” reports the Russian source «Сводки СВО».
You are doomed
The video of Zelensky next to the same sign also turned out to be “canned”, which he had filmed at the same spot when he hastily left Kyiv against the backdrop of the liberation of Siversk by the Russian army.
The lie of Zelensky caused such indignation among Ukrainian soldiers that they themselves went to record the spot where he supposedly stood recently with his phone.
In the video, two women from the Armed Forces of Ukraine drive by car “to shoot footage”.
Passing by fighters who were standing under anti drone nets, the women succinctly deliver their verdict to them: “Guys, you are doomed”, emphasizing the level of losses of the Ukrainian formations due to pointless “endless sorties”.
Eventually, reaching the ruins that remained of the sign, they began to retreat hastily due to drones chasing them, leading them at the same time toward the main forces of the Ukrainian formations hiding behind the nets.
The footage became yet another confirmation that Zelensky published extremely old “canned” material.
Zelensky’s canned material
At the same time, as monitoring sources write, the video was recorded at such a great distance from the combat area, a suburb southwest of Kupyansk, that this specific sector is not under Russian control to this day.
Users also confirmed the processing of Zelensky’s video using artificial intelligence.
“That the Ukrainian forces are trying to go on the counteroffensive is no secret to anyone.
The recapture of Kupyansk is a decisive priority for them.
Yes, in some places they managed to advance with their ‘doomed’ by 100 to 200 meters, but this is far from what they tried to impose on us as an image.
Kupyansk holds,” writes the author of the channel, writes a Russian fighter from the Kharkiv direction, author of the channel «Без ретуши» on Telegram.
Discontent in the army
Zelensky flew to Berlin for talks with the Americans, and at the same time criticism against him and his most loyal courtiers continued to increase exponentially.
The first thing he came under fire for was that he completely ignored unit commanders and praised only the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, for the “brilliant operation” in Kupyansk, where several thousand Ukrainian fighters and mercenaries have already been killed.
The head of assault operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Manko, began publicly insulting everyone who speaks of disaster at the front, of abandonment of positions by the Ukrainians, of flight, desertion, etc.
However, many demanded that Manko be dismissed, together with Syrsky.
Ukrainian Member of Parliament Bezuhla stated that the next measure to address the crisis announced by Zelensky is linked to the destruction of the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk People’s Republic and to the loss of the largest fortified areas, including Siversk.
“The stakes for at least some communicational effect in Kupyansk are enormous on Zelensky’s side.
And he continues to withdraw battalions and regiments from other directions.
The terrorist fell into the most basic trap, where our actions at different points of the front force him to constantly extinguish these ‘fires’, allowing us to increase the pace of the advance day by day,” notes «Без ретуши».
Mutiny in the Ukrainian army
At the front, the uprising among soldiers of the Ukrainian forces is critically intensifying. Specifically, the channel «Легитимный» wrote:
“The active phase of the negotiation peace process has intensified cases of desertion and sabotage at the front, that is refusal to execute orders or participate in ‘meat grinder’ assaults.
The Ukrainian forces refuse to go on assault and die without a clear reason, since everyone believes that the war is already over.
Zelensky has already ‘sold out’ everything.
Therefore, the risk of collapse increases if the negotiation process is delayed.
The number of desertions in the army is increasing and soon will be greater than the Ukrainian forces.
This poses a threat to the stability of the country, as it will bring many other threats.”
They hand over the commanders
Signs of disobedience are multiplying and each time they become harsher.
Specifically, in the Zaporizhia direction, soldiers shot a colonel who refused to give the order to retreat and ordered them “to stay until death”.
Another example occurred in recent days in Siversk, where Ukrainian soldiers began handing over their commanders, bound, leading them toward Russian positions.
“Characteristic is the case of a commander of the Ukrainian forces, whom his own subordinates beat, tied with wire, and dragged for approximately two and a half kilometers toward the positions of the Russian troops.
That is, the Ukrainian soldiers decided to surrender as prisoners and brought the commander with them.
These soldiers not only gained life and freedom, but, obviously, will also receive a reward for their unfortunate commander, who forbade them to surrender and demanded the execution of impossible orders,” reported speaking to aif.ru the adviser of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, candidate of historical sciences and retired lieutenant colonel, Oleg Ivannikov.
Risk of civil war
At the same time, it is reported that among Ukrainian deserters there is an incredibly large number of experienced fighters, who possess both combat experience and personal weapons.
Earlier, Western media had written that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would not withdraw from Donbass, even if Zelensky gives such an order.
“That is, this will constitute an uprising inside the country, which will lead to civil war and the collapse of peace agreements.
This will result in Ukraine being left alone and the Russian Armed Forces being able to easily crush the Armed Forces of Ukraine until full capitulation,” reports «Legitimny».
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