The Russian military has reported liberation of multiple new settlements in Donbass, while making new gains in Kursk Region The past week in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has seen intensive fighting along the front line, with active hostilities continuing in the southwest of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), in the north of Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), as well as in Kursk Region, where the country’s troops made new important gains against Kiev’s invasion force.In the north of Donbass, the Russian military liberated the village of Yampolovka, a small settlement located some 35km to the northwest of the city of Severodonetsk. The city was captured by Moscow’s forces early into the conflict, yet the advance in the area got long stalled, devolving into stationary warfare. Apart from that, Moscow’s forces seized control of the village of Figolevo, located in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region a short way from the border with the LPR. The village is located beyond the Oskol River, a waterway running roughly along the border some 20km into Ukrainian territory. While the local front line has remained largely static since late 2022, the fighting picked up in recent months, with the Russian forces gaining control of multiple locations in the area and reaching Oskol at several points.Donbass offensive goes onThe main events continued to unfold in the southwest of the DPR, with the Russian forces continuing to advance on the flanks of the city of Pokrovsk (also known as Krasnoarmeysk), the largest settlement remaining under Ukrainian control in the area.This week, Moscow’s forces seized control of Berezovka, a small village located near a major road, running from Pokrovsk to Konstantinovka, an industrial city in central Donbass and a major logistics hub used by Kiev’s military. Earlier this year, the Russian troops reached the village of Udachnoye to the southwest of Pokrovsk, severing the road in the area as well and disrupting the Ukrainian military’s logistics. Active hostilities have also continued to the west of Kurakhovo, a town stretching along the southern bank of the eponymous reservoir and located some 30 km to the south of Pokrovsk. The town, once a heavily fortified stronghold and a major logistics hub used by Kiev’s forces, was liberated by the Russian military early in January. This week, Moscow’s forces advanced onto a narrow pocket stretching for about 8km to the east of the Ukrainian-controlled village of Konstantinopol, located some 15km to the west of Kurakhovo. The village of Ulakly was roughly in the middle of the pocket, with the Russian forces assaulting it from the south and breaching Ukrainian defenses in the area. The advance resulted in Kiev’s troops getting cut off the easternmost part of the pocket, reportedly fleeing in disarray and sustaining heavy casualties during their hasty retreat. The Russian forces have also reportedly reached the southern outskirts of Konstantinopol, as well as likely got in full control of Ulakly over the week. On Friday, a video purporting to show Moscow’s forces erecting the country’s flag in the heavily damaged village emerged online. However, the liberation of the village has not been officially announced by the Russian Defense Ministry yet.Kursk pocket continues to shrinkThe Russian military has continued its effort to dislodge Kiev’s forces from the border areas of Kursk Region, which Ukraine invaded in early August last year. The hostility continued in the vicinity of the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement seized by the Ukrainian troops in the area, as well as smaller villages in its vicinity. This week, the Russian military liberated the village of Sverdlikovo, located some 10km northwest of Sudzha. The village has been used by Kiev’s military as a logistics hub, with a minor crossborder road running through it. The village was also an important defensive position, given its position on the banks of the Loknya River, a small swampy waterway, which has been a natural obstacle for the advancing Russian forces. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country’s forces, namely soldiers with the 810th Marines Brigade “crossed the border between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and entered the enemy territory” in Ukraine’s Sumy Region. While the president’s announcement corresponded with the liberation of Sverdlikovo, Putin did not elaborate on where exactly the forces crossed the border. The loss of Sverdlikovo further aggravated the situation for the Ukrainian invasion force, given the Kiev-held pocket now remains reliant on a single supply route - a major crossborder road leading to Sudzha. The road got under Russia’s fire control earlier this year when the country’s forces approached the town from the southeast. The Ukrainian military tried to push back Moscow’s troops, launching multiple attacks on the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka early in February. The Ukrainian forces sustained heavy casualties during the attacks, failing to make any tangible gains in the area. According to the latest estimates by the Russian military estimates, Ukrainian forces suffered extremely heavy losses during the incursion of Kursk. More than 62,200 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and wounded in the area, with more than 370 tanks, 279 infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), 229 armored personnel carriers (APC), and nearly 2,000 other armored vehicles destroyed or captured.Rear strikesThe Russian military has continued its effort to find and destroy high-value assets in Ukraine’s near rear, targeting amassed troops, staging areas and logistics hubs with various medium-range weaponry, incl;uding ballistic missiles.On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it launched a missile strike against a staging point of the 27th Reactive artillery brigade, identified near the village of Boromlya in Ukraine’s Sumy Region. Surveillance drone footage released by the Russian military shows multiple military vehicles poorly concealed in a wooded area. At least two Olkha-M multiple rocket launchers, a Ukrainian system based on the Soviet-era BM-30 Smerch, were identified at the site.The staging area was targeted by a single ballistic missile, apparently rigged for air burst, and fired by an Iskander-M launcher. While the extent of damage sustained by the hardware was not immediately known, Ukrainian troops were seen evacuating their wounded from the site after the strike, footage suggests. A similar strike reportedly targeted a staging point on the outskirts of the city of Sumy itself, with a Ukrainian unit’s accommodation discovered on the premises of a defunct recreation camp for children. Thermal drone footage circulating online shows multiple military vehicles tightly parked at the location, with a single ballistic missile hitting it shortly after. Multiple fires were observed at the site after the strike, with multiple vehicles reportedly destroyed and dozens of Ukrainian servicemen killed or wounded.Lancet-family dronesThe past week has seen continuing active use of the Lancet-family drones, with multiple new videos surfacing online showing Russian loitering munitions in action. The UAVs of the type have seen increasingly intensive use over the course of the conflict, serving as one of the key medium-range tools in Moscow’s arsenal to hunt down Ukrainian high-value assets, such as mobile artillery or anti-aircraft systems. A fresh video reportedly taken in the Kursk Region border area, shows Lancet drones attacking two Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) launchers. The short-to-medium-range anti-aircraft system is seen deployed in an open field by a wooded area, where it presumably has been concealed while offline, with multiple tracks seen in the snow. Both launchers end up hit by Lancet loitering munitions, with a lone Ukrainian serviceman apparently accessing damage sustained by one of them, surveillance drone footage shows. Thermal drone footage, taken in the village of Verkhnaya Syrovatka in Ukraine’s Sumy Region, shows rare use of a Lancet-family drone in an installation strike. The loitering munition hit an agriculture hangar on the outskirts of the village, used to stockpile ammunition. The strike caused a massive secondary blast at the site, with an apparent Ukrainian evacuation team seen arriving to inspect the blazing ruins. A video taken by a surveillance drone shows a Ukrainian BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher tracked from its hiding spot to its firing position. The vehicle is seen firing its rockets from the side of a busy road, with multiple presumably civilian vehicles seen passing by. Such tactic has been a common practice for Kiev’s troops, enabling mobile artillery units to blend with civilian traffic to escape potential retaliation as well as to stay close to hard-surface roads for enhanced mobility. The maneuver, however, did not save the BM-21, as it got hit by a Lancet before being able to leave the firing position. The launcher caught fire and was destroyed, footage suggests.