Day 1072
On 31 January, the most important updates come from the Velyka Novosilka direction. Here, the battle for Velyka Novosilka reached a critical turning point as Russian forces pushed forward, leveraging their numerical superiority and high ground advantage. With the last remaining Ukrainian supply route under attack and relentless assaults underway, the fate of Velyka Novosilka was at stake.
After months of intense fighting, the Russian forces continued their offensive effort to take control of Velyka Novosilka. Despite being relatively small, Velyka Novosilka is still the largest town in 40 km of fields and minor settlements, resulting in it being a key logistical node due to the many hardened roads running through it. This makes Velyka Novosilka a vital logistics hub to supply and sustain any future operations for either side.
To capture the town, Russians are avoiding direct assaults and urban combat by instead attempting to cut off key Ukrainian logistics routes leading into Velyka Novosilka. Russian forces already held physical control of two out of three logistics roads, leaving the Ukrainian garrison with only the road in the west running through Vremivka. As cutting off this road would allow the Russian forces to cut off all supplies and reinforcements to the Ukrainian garrison in the town, Vremivka became the main focus point of the Russian offensive.
If we look at the topographic map, we can see that Vremivka and Velyka Novosilka are located in the lowlands of the river valley, while the Russian forces in the north, east, south, and west maintain positions on much higher elevations. This allowed the Russian forces to enforce fire control over the Ukrainian garrison in Velyka Novosilka and support any of their assaults from up the hill. The steep slope also gave Russians a large reconnaissance advantage as their aviation and artillery intensely bombed the Ukrainian garrison in the town below.
Lastly, the village of Vremivka is part of a larger agglomeration of settlements stretching to the south, allowing Russians to infiltrate through the settlements as well.
However, as you may remember, the agglomeration of villages south of Vremivka was the site of the Ukrainian 2023 counter-offensive, and the heavy fighting left the towns completely reduced to ruins, eliminating the cover advantage for the Russians. This allowed the Ukrainian forces to intensely target Russians moving into the town with artillery and drones. Furthermore, Russians had to cross wide open fields to reach Ukrainian positions, increasing their exposure to Ukrainian reconnaissance drones and artillery fire.
Geolocated combat footage from the area reveals the detection of over 14 Russian stormtroopers by Ukrainian drone operators due to their exposure in the open fields. The Ukrainian drone operators relayed their coordinates to the crew of nearby artillery batteries, which swiftly reacted and shelled the Russian forces, thwarting their attack. This led to the destruction of the Russian infantry with all 14 soldiers eliminated and no survivors left in this wave of attack. Other Russian forces that were not detected and targeted by artillery shelling managed to enter the outskirts, only to be eliminated by drone strikes and Ukrainian small arms fire.
In the end, this wasn’t enough to counteract the overwhelming Russian numerical advantage and tactically superior positions. Reports from Ukrainian soldiers on the ground indicate that Russians had a 3-to-1 advantage in terms of manpower and were shelling the town day and night. Russians were also able to fully utilize their positions on the high ground to support their assaults on Vremivka. After Vremivka fell, they managed to cut off most Ukrainian supplies into Velyka Novosilka, spelling the end for the Ukrainian garrison.
As Russians intensified their assaults and started establishing footholds within the town, Ukrainians understood that the perimeter was breached. They conducted a full withdrawal with a rear guard action to prevent Russians from overrunning them.
Overall, despite the Ukrainians’ best efforts, the Russians were able to leverage their numerical superiority in combination with their high ground advantage to take Velyka Novosilka. The Ukrainian withdrawal was relatively successful as Russians had dedicated most of their artillery support to target the entries to the town, allowing most Ukrainian groups to withdraw in good order.
Despite the dynamic end of the battle of Velyka Novosilka with Russians raising the flag over the town, Western military analysts state that the frontline will not collapse due to the difficult terrain and natural obstacles.
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: Russian commanders handcuff soldiers to prevent desertion near Pokrovsk
- Frontline report: Ukraine wipes out three Russian air defense divisions in three days
- Frontline Report: Ukrainians turn former Russian border defenses against advancing forces in Kursk
