Invasion Update - 19 February 2024 - Day 726 of the Invasion
Donetsk Front - Multiple Russian advancements towards several Ukrainian settlements during Battle of Avdiivka
Novomykhailivka - Pobjeda - Heorhiivka - Pervomaiske, Donetsk Oblast
Introduction
During the
Battle of Avdiivka (Russian transliteration:
Avdeevka),
Russian forces launched assaults towards
Ukrainian-held settlements west of
Donetsk to limit
Ukraine's flexibility in logistics from moving troops, armor, and supplies around the Donetsk front to the Ukrainian garrison in
now-Russian-controlled Avdiivka. As a result,
Ukraine was not able to send reinforcements to their garrison in
Avdiivka for a while when the
Russians launched their offensive towards the stronghold in 6 October 2023. These settlements are:
- Novomykhailivka: a town southwest of Donetsk; it is one of two towns Russia (the other being Paraskoviivka-Donetsk) needs to capture before reaching Kostyantynivka to cut the O0532 Road, of which Ukraine uses to supply their garrison in the fortress settlement of Vuhledar. Recently, Russia has had struggles in capturing the settlement.
- Pobjeda: a village southwest of Donetsk and its destroyed suburb of Marinka. Located on the O0532 Road, if the Russians manage to capture it, they can assault Kostyantyivka from the northeast or Novomykhailivka from the north. During the Battle of Marinka, Russian forces advanced towards Pobjeda though with very limited success.
- Heorhiivka: a town west of Marinka and Donetsk. Following the Battle of Marinka, Russian forces advanced towards the town to keep the pressure on the retreating Ukrainian forces.
- Pervomaiske: a town northwest of Donetsk and its suburb of Pisky. For most of the war, the town is contested in favor of Ukraine, with Russia struggling to advance towards this settlement following their capture of Pisky. If Pervomaiske is captured, Russian forces can advance towards Netailove, the southernmost settlement of the Berdychi-Orlivka-Umanske-Netailove Defensive Line, which was built to prevent Russian advances west of Avdiivka.
Interestingly enough, during the
Battle of Avdiivka,
Russia have made advances towards these settlements, which is a strong indicator that
Ukraine is suffering manpower and supply problems in all of the
Donetsk Front and not just
Avdiivka.
Novomykhailivka - Russian forces finally entrenches within the town
- To recap, Russian forces have made limited progress in advancing towards Novomykhailivka due to the winter weather and heavy Ukrainian resistance, resulting in their attempts to enter the town being repulsed. The Russian plan soon changed to assaulting the northern and southern flanks to enter key positions such as Zverinets (consisting of some destroyed buildings) northeast of the town before entering the town again.
- Despite an initial hiccup on 26 January where an Ukrainian counterattack reversed some of Russia's gains, (1) Russian forces made steady advances and not only did they manage to revert these Ukrainian gains but also fully captured Zverinets. (2) Russian troops soon made small advances on the northern and southern flanks until February, (3, 4) in which they finally launched an attempt into entering Novomykhailivka.
- Russia's first attempt to enter Novomykhailivka was repulsed by Ukrainian forces (5, 6). However, in their second attempt, Russian troops entered and entrenched themselves in the eastern parts of Novomykhailivka, as well capturing the town's cemetery in the south. (7, 8, 10) Russian troops continued advancing into the northern and southern flanks to keep the pressure onto the Ukrainian garrison in Novomykhailivka. (9, 10, 11)
- Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces have initiated within the town, with 20% of Novomykhailivka is under Russian control or in a grey area.
| 26 January | 29 January | 31 January |
 |  |  |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 January | 6 February | 8 February |
 |  |  |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 February | 10 February | 10 February |
 |  |  |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 13 February | 16 February | |
 |  | |
| 10 | 11 | |
Marinka-Heorhiivka-Pobieda - Russia expands buffer zone around Marinka and enters Pobieda
- After some inactivity, Russian forces expanded the buffer zone around Marinka towards Heorhiivka and Pobieda (misspelled as Pobjeda). (1, 4) Russian forces inside Heorhiivka managed to capture most of the northern shore of Heorhiivskyi Pond. (2) Meanwhile, Russian forces seized the forest belt adjacently east to Pobieda following Ukrainian withdrawal and instead of assaulting the village initially, traversed south towards Novomykhailivka. (3, 5) With this advance, Russian forces soon entered Pobieda and captured the village's eastern farms, making Pobieda now contested between Russia and Ukraine.
| 1 February | 7 February | 11 February |
 |  |  |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 14 February | 15 February | 19 February |
 |  |  |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
Pervomaiske - Russia reaches the center of the village
Capture of Ukrainian positions near Pervomaiske by Russian soldiers
- After months of a stagnated front, Russia launched an operation to cut off Ukrainian forces between southern Pervomaiske and central Pervomaiske from the northern shore of Izmailivskyi Pond. Although the attack did not achieve success in this direction, it was a strategic success in which Ukrainian forces withdrew westwards from southern Pervomaiske in fear of being cut off. This leaves Russian forces in the east to capture all of southern Pervomaiske and the intersection of E50 Road and Pershotravneva Street (the main artery of Pervomaiske) and allowed them to enter central Pervomaiske following partial Ukrainian withdrawal.
| 4 January | 8 January | 11 January |
 |  |  |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 January | 27 January | 4 February |
 |  |  |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 10 February | 15 February | |
 |  | |
| 7 | 8 | |
General Conclusion/Too Long; Didn't Read
West of Donetsk, 19 February 2024 - Source:
DeepStateUA
- As stated before, Russian forces have advanced towards all four settlements in assaults that were meant to prevent Ukraine from moving forces to Avdiivka during Russia's offensive to take the stronghold. This is not the only advancements Russia made to achieve this objective (such as offensives in Kharkov Oblast and the western edge of Luhansk Oblast/Luhansk People's Republic; apologies, I promised to report on it but I wanted to get the Donetsk stuff out of the way).
- Russia is most likely to continue with this strategy following their capture of Avdiivka if they have a set target for their next offensive to prevent Ukraine from moving formations from settlements around Donetsk to a target settlement. The capture of Avdiivka most likely exacerbated the decreasing morale of Ukrainian forces in their positions around Donetsk in addition to decreasing manpower and logistics, resulting in most likely more advances from Russian forces.
Crediting most of what I have to SuriyakMaps (
Telegram), which has been consistently neutral and reliable, and has been my main source for posting updates in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, especially as it pertains to the Battle of Bakhmut. Other mapper I recommend is the pro-Ukrainian mapper
DeepStateUA, of which it is constantly reliable and truthful despite the pro-Ukrainian lingo, and even reports more Russian gains than Suriyak and other Russian mappers like Rybar (
Telegram).
Previous update:
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/russian-special-military-operation-in-the-ukraine.150029/post-17749396
Reliable Reporters I use:
- History Legends - Despite having a soyjak face in the thumbnails, his reports are neutral and reports both on Russian and Ukrainian successes and losses.
- Willy OAM - Willy is a Pro-Ukraine/Pro-NATO reporter who is probably the first to be disillusioned that Avdiivka's fall to Russia is inevitable a week ago, and pro-Russians seem to sorta like him more despite the pro-Ukrainian lingo as he is more truthful in his reports.
