Day 1058
On 10 January, there were many important updates from the Kursk direction. Here, the Russian forces launched a bold mechanized assault toward Makhnovka, aiming to break through Sudzha and disrupt critical Ukrainian logistics in the Kursk Salient.
However, their predictable attack routes and limited local advantages were quickly countered by the rapid deployment of Ukrainian reserves from Sudzha, setting the stage for a decisive battle.
Russian forces’ goal in this area was to break through Sudzha’s defenses to the southeast and quickly cut off the eastern part of the town. By doing so, the Russians would place all bridges in the town under their fire control, which would strain Ukrainian logistics in the whole of the Kursk Salient and put the Ukrainian frontline positions at risk of collapse.
The new Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk Oblast heavily depends on Sudzha as its main logistics hub, moving all its supplies, equipment, and ammunition through the town. To achieve their goal of cutting off the offensive’s lifeblood, the Russians launched a rapid mechanized assault towards the settlement of Makhnovka.
The main advantage of the Russian forces is the forest around the Russian-controlled settlement of Ulanok, which allows them to accumulate forces for the assault virtually without detection by Ukrainian drone reconnaissance.
This also means that Ukrainian drone operators and artillery crews are not able to effectively target Russian troops and equipment as they have effective concealment.
Furthermore, the left flank of the Russian forces is protected by the Sudzha and Psel Rivers, preventing the Ukrainians from conducting a counterattack into the Russian flank.
While the rivers themselves are narrow, the surrounding area is covered in marshes and mud, which slows down and complicates any movement of soldiers and vehicles, making a Ukrainian flank attack very difficult to conduct.
However, the Ukrainian forces’ main advantage was the proximity of Sudzha as their main logistical base, which meant that the Ukrainian forces held a lot of reserve soldiers and heavy equipment within the town. Furthermore, the infrastructure and size of Sudzha meant that Ukrainians could accumulate more forces in the town than Russians could within nearby villages and forests, severely outnumbering them.
Combat footage from the area shows the quick deployment of Ukrainian armored vehicles from Sudzha to Makhnovka, just 2 kilometers away. This means that Ukrainian fighters were able to counter Russian attacks almost immediately.
Furthermore, the Russian attack route was very predictable, as their mechanized forces could take only one logical vector of advance. The dense forest cover, combined with terrain limitations enforced by the nearby river marshes and tree lines, forced the Russians to advance along the narrow corridor in the fields near Charkaskaya Kopelka.
Combat footage from the area reveals how Ukrainians detected a group of several armored vehicles advancing towards Makhnovka along the expected route of attack. Immediately, a Ukrainian tank was dispatched to fire on the Russian vehicles and eliminate the Russian attack. This forced the Russian stormtroopers to dismount and flee towards nearby houses and forest belts in disorganization.
Ukrainian drone operators relayed coordinates of their presence to artillery crews, which immediately fired cluster munitions over the Russian positions, inflicting tremendous losses. The remaining Russian survivors were then subsequently caught and eliminated by Ukrainian FPV drones. Occasionally, Russian infantrymen concealed in the forest to the south managed to reinforce Russian forces maintaining a presence in southern Makhnovka.
However, they are often detected as soon as they move into the village and subjected to intense precision fire.
Combat footage from the area reveals how a squad of eight Russian soldiers entered a house on the southern outskirts, which was subsequently struck by FPV kamikaze drones. Overall, the Russians launched a daring yet predictable assault towards Makhnovka, intending to enter Sudzha and block Ukrainian logistics, only to be stopped at the southern part of the village by the swift reaction of Ukrainian forces.
Their inability to breach Ukrainian defenses will secure Ukrainian logistics for their offensive, forcing Russians to adopt increasingly desperate measures to try and hold the Ukrainian advance.
In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Read also:
- Frontline report: North Korean “human waves” fail to stop Ukrainian advance to key Kursk logistics hub
- Frontline report: Ukraine intensifies strikes on Russian command posts in Kursk
- Frontline report: Ukraine strikes depleted Russian-North Korean forces to defend foothold inside Russia
