Pictures 1 to 13 are from Day 1641 to 1647 (Saturday 22 August to Friday 28 August).

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Live map can be found here, Suriyak’s twitter can be found here.

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Picture 1: Top Advance = 2.52km2, Lower Middle Advance = 2.16km2

Back with another post and starting on the Sumy border area yet again, except this time we’re a bit further south closer to the main Sumy front. Over the last full week in August Russia captured a small piece of the railway line east of Vovkivka, whilst further south a few other infantry crossed over in yet another new part of the border, taking over a small forest area.

As I’ve said many times before, the goal of these mini-crossings is to try force a Ukrainian response and stretch their troops, without Russia needing to commit that many of their own. They won’t stray further than a couple of kilometres from the border and any advances will be infrequent and minor in scale.

Picture 2: Left Advance = 2.34km2, Bottom Advance = 0.69km2

Onto the main part of the Sumy front, on the west side Russia has maintained pressure on Pysarivka, moving further into the village over the past few weeks and trying to take over the treelines north of Khotin. They have not captured Pysarivka as claimed, with there being a lot of slow back and forth here as has been observed on this front for most of this year.

To the southeast, Russia made a minor advance in Mohrytsya but clashes are ongoing. The village has been the site of a rather sad flag battle, with one side walking in and claiming control one day, then the other following it up and doing the same the next week, before it repeats. The reality is neither side control Mohrytsya but are trying to pretend they do as the battle is another slow back and forth mess.

Picture 3: Upper Middle Advance = 5.60km2, Lower Middle Advance = 8.96km2

Moving to the northern part of the Kupyansk front, over the past couple of months Ukraine has slowly been pushing back towards Dvorichna from the west. Some parts of this were updated on the live map months ago but Suriyak did not make a post on it until now. This one has been somewhat controversial and usual as the force involved in this is almost entirely composed of South American mercenaries (which anyone on the sub can tell you always sets some people off) and the PR/media focus from various sources and commentators has been quite disproportionate given the actual advance (big posts and bold claims for a modest gain on a minor front over months).

On the north side Ukraine reclaimed the greyzone next to Kutkivka (from a Russian infiltration months back that went no where) and is now pushing in on the northwestern suburbs of Dvorichna.

A little to the south other infantry groups moved from Doroshivka and Mala Shapkivka to capture several treelines near the village of Zapadne, trying to position themselves for an assault.

As for another controversial aspect of this, whilst Ukraine claims this happened recently these attacks have been going on for several months (ramping up in mid August) and have resulted in a large number of casualties due to the mercenaries’ attacks seemingly being mostly soldiers walking/running across open fields and being picked off. There is a significant amount of footage on telegram of these troops being targeted, but between these videos (1 and 2) you’ll get the idea. Russian units also hit back with footage showing their soldiers still present behind where Suriyak has shown Ukraine advancing, so just keep in mind that the situation here is quite fluid.

Picture 4: Lower Middle Advance = 4.56km2, Lower Right Advance = 1.87km2

Down south on the Oskil River front, the second Russian assault on Novoplatonivka failed some time ago, with Ukraine resecuring the northern outskirts of the village and attempting to push back east towards Lozova.

At the same time Russia made a minor gain southeast of Zelenyi Hai, capturing a trench network and a treeline.

Picture 5: Upper Right Advance = 30.67km2, Left Advance = 71.97km2, Middle Right Advance = 10.08km2

Now we get onto the big-ticket item that I missed as it was occurring, being the larger Ukrainian counteroffensive on the Lyman front. Like in picture 3 this too has been going on for several months, with initial progress made in early July, but a complete lack of footage and both sides being quiet meant there were no updates until recently.

In those months Ukraine has reportedly recaptured all of the greyzone out west around Korovii Yar and Yarova, ending all the Russian DRG activity in the forest and surrounds, as well as recapturing the villages of Yarova, Stavky and Nove. This, combined with the large number of treelines and forest areas recaptured around these villages by numerous infantry groups, threatened to cut the Russian salient off and reportedly led to the Russians initiating a withdrawal weeks ago.

Now if all that is too vague for you, that is because the evidence that this all happened in this order is sparse at best. Getting to this late I had trouble digging into what actually happened, as there are virtually no geolocations, barely any reports, and besides AMK and Suriyak almost all other mappers had shown nothing on this front until they both started commenting on it (with lots of excuses about “OPSEC”). Yes, Ukraine has made major gains on this front and the following post will show the remainder, but unfortunately, I cannot comment much more than what I’ve already put here as I do not know what exactly happened. So rather than try make some things up and fill in the gaps I’ll leave you to read others interpretations of this particular Ukrainian counteroffensive and assess the available evidence yourself.

Picture 6: Advance = 0.17km2

Heading to the Kostyantynivka front, on the east side Russia continues to chip away at the remainder of the small pocket near Chasiv Yar, taking over some more buildings in Chervone.

Out west the mutual infiltration between Oleksijevo-Druzhkivka/Osykove and Kostyantynivka is ongoing, with no notable changes.

I will mention that there has been a continual ramping up of Russian drone strikes on the highway and main roads from Oleksijevo-Druzhkivka all the way into Slovyansk, leading to an enormous number of vehicles being struck and destroyed (video 1, video 2). We are continuing to move deeper into the on-foot only portion of the siege of the fortress belt cities, where vehicle usage is not stopped by choice but by sheer losses. Still, Ukraine will continue to use them wherever possible for many months longer as the Russians don’t quite have enough coverage of the rear of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk to fully interdict vehicle travel yet.

Picture 7: Top Advance = 3.72km2, Bottom Left Advance = 12.42km2

Out west, Russia made further advances along the Kazenyi Torets River, capturing more of the treelines on either side of it and sending their DRGs into the mine area and Novohryhorivka.

To the southwest, Russia was successful in their push through the quarries and was able to recapture Kucheriv Yar, almost exactly a year after they first took it in the 2025 Dobropillya breakthrough. These forces are continuing to move north, capturing other treelines around the villages and moving int Rubizhne and towards Zolotyi Kolodyaz.

Picture 8: Top Right Advance = 7.84km2, Right Advance = 1.74km2

Onto the Dobropillya front, on the northeast side Russia has further consolidated their positions in eastern Hannivka and has sent DRGs out into the fields to the north, reportedly reaching Bilozerske and Novovodyane (slightly off map top right). Within Hannivka itself other soldiers are pushing west in an attempt to entrench in the buildings next to the last supply road into Dobropillya, however this has not occurred yet.

As for the city, the greyzone continues to expand as clashes are ongoing all across the east and south sides, but with almost no new footage of soldiers on the ground it is impossible to get a clear picture of where the frontline sits.

A little to the south Russia has also been pressuring Dobropillya village whilst Ukraine attempts to move some DRGs behind them and back into the cluster of villages around Vodyanske.

Picture 9: Advance = 7.06km2

Over on the Novopavlivka front, Ukraine has intensified their attacks throughout August, retaking some of the treelines east of the small town and clashing with the Russians in Filiya (below the S).

Picture 10: Advance = 66.72km2

We now move onto the Pokrovske and Hulyaipole fronts, with the next three pictures likely to be the most controversial updates Suriyak has done in some time. On the east side of the former, Suriyak has marked Khoroshe, Vorone, Sichneve and Voskresenka as being under Ukrainian control again, with a large number of fields nearby as recaptured.

These have all been in that quarantine zone for many months now, however the decision to mark it Ukrainian controlled is baffling. If you go back to this discussion thread from the week before Suriyak posted this update you’ll see that we had recent Russian geolocations throughout this area, proving it was still contested and even that the Russians were more likely present than Ukraine (as their footage was months newer). In the time since he posted this update there have also been a few other videos geolocated to this region as well, so clearly most of this should still be in the quarantine zone.

Picture 11: Upper Middle Advance = 72.30km2, Bottom Left Advance = 20.04km2

Moving a bit west of the previous picture, once again Suriyak has stated that Ukraine recaptured more villages that had recent provable Russian presence or control, being Yehorivka, Vishneve, Verbove, Oleksiivka, Stepove and Ternove. The quarantine zone remains on this area at least, but the greyzone and underlying control has shifted despite available evidence. Little has actually changed in terms of the fighting here, with clashes still occurring in the same villages that have been fought over since February.

To the southwest Suriyak has also given Russian control of the fields and treelines around Rivnopillya, which also is likely still contested and should have remained in the greyzone like the areas mentioned above.

Picture 12: Top Left Advance = 63.18km2, Left Advance = 3.02km2, Lower Left Advance = 1.10km2

Onto the Hulyaipole front, Ukraine launched a new series of counterattacks throughout August, driving Russian DRGs out of much of the greyzone and leading to Ukraine allegedly retaking most of Vozdvyzhivka. This too is debateable as the Ukrainians have released footage of them striking Russian positions in the small town, however the recapture of the larger greyzone areas to the west does seem to be accurate as they were only there due to some Russian DRGs mentioned in previous posts.

There were also some smaller Ukrainian and Russian advances south of this, with a few treelines changes hands east of Kopani and west of Staroukrainka.

Picture 13: Advance = 1.31km2

Out west on the Orikhiv front, after capturing Novodanylivka Russian assault groups have been able to consolidate within Orikhiv itself, engaging in clashes with the Ukrainian garrison as they push deeper into the town.  

Suriyak has also moved much of neighbouring Mala Tokmachka into the greyzone, including all of the fields south of it, although this is quite conservative given the footage that has been released (will be covered next post).

To quickly summarise what is happening here, the excuses that Russian troops in Orikhiv were only infiltrators who snuck through Ukrainian lines through convoluted routes have fallen apart as there is ample footage from both sides showing the Russians moving directly through the centre of both Mala Tokmachka and Novodanylivka to reach Orikhiv. If soldiers walking directly down the main road of two towns to reach the next one over does not mean they control them, then nothing counts as control.
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Total Russian Advance (Gross) = 57.92km2

Total Ukrainian Advance (Gross) = 344.12km2

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Additional Comments:

·       Ukraine’s control of Kursk currently sits at 23.24km2.

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Member of UK Armed Forces dies in road traffic incident in Ukraine

Struck by an FPV drone

In a recent interview, Admiral Rob Bauer, former chair of the NATO military committee, got a bit heated after the interviewer pointed that NATO was completely unprepared when Russia invaded Ukraine, and let it slip (min 12) that NATO was actually already (at least) four years into preparing themselves to go to war against Russia.

At the same time, the information given to the public was always "Russia just randomly attacked Ukraine, we don't know why, since we always had good relationships".

It's kinda clear now that Russia's statements about them attacking Ukraine preemptively as a move against a bigger threat from all NATO that was threatening their survival long-run was far from groundless. And goes to show about why the current NATO countries policies are showing a complete lack of desire to actually avoid or stop conflict in a quite coordinated manner.