Russian troops continue to make incremental advances across a wide part of the front line in the war they started partly due to Ukrainian manpower shortages, it has been reported, as maps show the latest state of play.
In its latest update, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that in the Donetsk region, Russian forces had advanced south and southeast of the logistics hub of Pokrovsk with geolocated footage showing these gains northwest of the town of Selydove which Moscow captured in October.
Russian forces advanced near the city of Toretsk although Ukraine claimed that Moscow’s troops had conducted some “unsuccessful” ground attacks near the city on Sunday and Monday. The ISW also noted some Ukrainian gains in the area.
The Washington, D.C, think tank’s maps show some of these latest operations, including Russia’s capture of the towns of Shaktarsk and Maksymivka. The ISW also noted some Ukrainian advances on Monday north of Toretsk.
Russian forces also made gains southeast of Kupiansk and northwest of Kreminna, the ISW reported, with video released by Ukrainian forces showing them repelling a platoon-sized Russian mechanized assault in the Lyman direction. The think tank’s map also shows Russian advances west of Novoselivske.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, gains by Kyiv were reported in the northern Kharkiv region amid a Russian operation that saw Moscow’s troops attack north of the regional capital of the same name with small infantry groups, rather than armored vehicles.
This map by the Institute for the Study of War from November 4, 2024 shows the control of terrain around Donetsk.
This map by the Institute for the Study of War from November 4, 2024 shows the control of terrain around Donetsk.
Institute for the Study of War
Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.
The Kyiv Independent reported Tuesday that Ukraine’s chronic manpower shortage is a main factor in local retreats and collapses in its defense lines that mean quicker Russian gains across the front.
The publication reported “manpower shortage and systemic structural issues” and added that Kyiv’s options to stabilize the front “look limited.”
Bloomberg reported on November 1 that its analysis had shown Ukraine had lost 442 square miles of its own territory since its surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region with the final week of October reportedly the worst for Kyiv’s forces in terms of lost territory for the whole year.
The following day, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his troops were facing “one of the most powerful” Russian offensives in the war, which “require constant renewal of the resources of Ukrainian units.”
Ukraine changed its mobilization laws in April which are aimed at replenishing dwindling numbers on the battlefield, requiring every man aged between 18 and 60 to log their details on an electronic database so they can be called up.
Last week, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, told the country’s parliament of plans to draft more than 160,000 more troops.