More Ukrainian Defenses Fall as Russia’s Eastern Offensive Rolls On

Russian forces attacking in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have posted new claims of making gains, as Kyiv’s troops continue to struggle against superior numbers and firepower according to official and media reports on Monday.

Russian armor and infantry backed by powerful artillery and aircraft operating under near total air superiority were moving freely in the center of Selydove, an important road hub, over the weekend. Kyiv Post’s review of geo-located drone and ground imagery suggests Moscow’s forces have taken control of Selydove’s tactically important high-rise residential district.

In a Sunday evening statement Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its its Army Group Center had advanced beyond Selydove and captured the adjacent village of Ismailivka. Russian milbloggers said the veteran 90th Motor Rifle Division spearheaded the attack which also took Ukrainian prisoners.

Ukrainian forces were retreating under pressure and currently held only the northern outskirts of Selydove, those sources said. Pro-Kyiv milbloggers said fighting in the town was still in progress but that Russian forces were advancing at multiple locations.

An army lieutenant with the callsign Aleks wrote in a Telegram post on Monday: “Regarding Selydove and the village of Vyshneve the situation in Vyshneve is far from the best. The [vulgar word for Russians] are  trying to storm the houses in a residential sector, they’re advancing along the railway, and unfortunately, they are succeeding. The vast majority of the village is already under the enemy control, maybe even completely. The village of Vyshneve itself has simply been flattened,” he wrote.

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The Russian milblogger Simon Pegov claimed that the Russian capture of Selydove and Ivanivka was total. He said that the Ukrainian evacuation of the nearby villages of Hyrnik and Vyshneve late last week, was strong evidence that Ukrainian defenses to the east of the key cities of Pokrovsk and Kurahove were crumbling.

“The extremely rapid advance of Russian troops continues… Russian troops have driven the Ukrainian garrison out of Selydove, and the settlement now is being mopped up. The completely broken Ukrainian defense could not withstand the onslaught of the Russian Armed Forces for long in the adjacent Vyshneve, which has also come under the control of Russian troops,” Pegov reported in a Monday situation report.

The pro-Ukraine volunteer and battle tracking group UkraineControlMap said: “To be clear to anyone that just shrugs these [Russian advances] off - these are not normal movements. Ukrainian forces are in disarray, and there is now a very good chance for Russia to capitalize upon these efforts and conquer significant areas.”

Monday graphics published by the pro-Ukrainian military operations tracking platform DeepStateMap by geo-location confirmed sites named by Pegov as being under Russian control were no longer held by Kyiv’s forces, but did not support his claim of a collapse of Ukrainian defenses in the Kurahove-Pokrovsk sector.

Ukranie’s Army General Staff in a Monday situation update maintained fighting was continuing in Vyshneve and Selydove, and made no reference to Ivanivka and Hyrnik. The report said Russian attacks in the Donbas sector are wide-spread, with more than one third of all front line combat engagements in the past 24 hours, having taken place in the relatively narrow Porkovsk-Kurahove sector.

Ukrainian military intelligence in late Spring identified the sector as a likely target for Russian main attacks during 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Kremlin’s main objective is to take over and annex the whole of Ukraine’s Donbas and Luhansk regions.

Military analysts say Pokrovsk is a key objective for the Kremlin because of its metallurgical factories and coal mines, while Kurhaove contains the region’s main electric power station.

Russian military social media platforms on Monday published video of an air strike against the Elektrostal production facility on the territory of the Kurahove steel mill where they claimed Ukrainian troops had been sheltering. review of the video by Kyiv Post found no evidence of a the presence of either Ukrainian troops or air defenses.

Ukraine’s Joint Forces East, the headquarters responsible for commanding Ukrainian defenses in the Pokrovsk-Kurahove sector, said that Russian forces launched more than 600 separate assaults in the past week. Those attacks were backed with artillery, surface-to-surface missiles, and a total 606 air strikes dropping 1,006 guided bombs.

“The Ukrainian military continues to resolutely repel the enemy's attempts to advance deep into our territory, inflicting effective fire damage on it, exhausting it along the entire front line,” the statement said.

Iceland military researcher Ragnar Gudmundsson published data on Oct. 27, showing combat engagements over the week were at a wartime high. By day Russian combat casualties were, based on published Ukrainian claims, setting new records as well, he said. The single bloodiest day of the entire war for the Russian army was May 13, 2024 when it lost 1,740 men. The  next four most costly combat days for the Kremlin were on Oct. 18, 21, 25 and 26, with daily losses between 1,500 -1,700, Gudmundson’s report showed.