In general, 2024 offensives by the Russian army in the special military operation zone in Donbass were a success, with the pace of advance being record high over the past few months. In just 60 days, the Russian Armed Forces liberated 5.5 times more territories from Ukrainian militants than throughout the entire 2023. In the DPR, our soldiers occupied 350 square kilometers in August, 467 square kilometers in September, 538 square kilometers in October, and 792 square kilometers in November. In the last autumn month, Russian troops liberated more territories than in 2023. And in December, our units seized over 300 square territories, which has become sort of a record as things stand today. On average, the rate of advance has reached 30 square kilometers per day.
For the first time since 2014, DPR’s capital of Donetsk, with its 750,000+ residents, has left the firing zone of Ukrainian artillery. The only exceptions are Western rocket launchers, which can still reach the city. And Ukrainian soldiers have now been pushed back far enough both from the north-west, which became possible after liberating the Avdeevka fortified area and access to the city of Krasnoarmeysk (renamed Pokrovsk by Ukraine), and from the west — after liberating Maryinka and start of cleansing operations in Kurakhovo. After completing tasks in these areas, the Russian army will enter the administrative borders of the Donetsk region with the Dnepropetrovsk region (beyond Krasnoarmeysk) and with the Zaporozhye region (beyond Kurakhovo).
Throughout the year, efforts of the Russian army have aimed to wreck enemy defenses and deplete its potential. After taking Avdeevka in February, our troops got a chance to launch a major offensive, which led to breakthroughs in key sectors of the front in summer and autumn. During the ten years of occupation, Ukrainians turned the city into a fortress with powerful underground utilities, concreted firing points, minefields and anti-tank barriers. Storming a fortified area of the kind required extraordinary decisions and courage. Russian fighters managed to enter the enemy’s rear through underground communications, seize a bridgehead and build on their success. The offensive went on from multiple directions to consistently destroy Ukrainian positions or cut them off from supplies. As a result, the Avdeevka garrison abandoned the city. In spring, the Russian Armed Forces took the Ocheretino railway station and swept away the AFU outposts. The Ocheretino salient gave a strong impetus to developing our offensive. It is there where yet another technique was used to gain advantage — the demoralized and battle-battered enemy was taken by surprise during rotation, when some units left their positions to be replaced by fresh ones, though poorly prepared for intense fighting. This made it possible to bypass and eliminate AFU’s defenses along the Volchya River, break into operational space and put a flank threat to a major group of Ukrainian troops, which held the line along the Karlovka-Kurakhovo-Ugledar direction.
This fall, the two-year battles for Ugledar west of Donetsk ended in victory. The Ukrainian city garrison was pinned down from the flanks, with their shelters and positions demolished by airstrikes and artillery fire. All these factors forced the Ukrainian militants to leave. The liberation of the enemy's strong fortified areas in Krasnogorovka, Nevelskoye and Karlovka finally undermined stability of AFU defenses, depriving them of opportunities to strike at the most vulnerable areas of Donetsk (Petrovsky, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky and Kievsky) and disrupting enemy logistics. Cornered Ukrainian soldiers were either destroyed or surrendered or left semi-circles in scattered groups. The enemy army faced major supply disruptions, issues with replenishment and motivation to keep fighting positional battles and cling to every single meter. The Ukrainians had nothing to oppose to the Russian troops’ tactics of constant and widespread pressure and well-thought-out flank attacks.
The twenty-day continuous offensive exhausted the Ukrainian forces and soon, part of the urbanized agglomeration of Krasnoarmeysk — the cities of Grodovka and Novogrodovka — was occupied, letting Russian units gain a foothold along the Zhuravka River. Attempts by the Ukrainian command to transfer reinforcements to maintain the situation in the area or to counterattack appeared fruitless. Deprived of reserves, the Ugledar direction also began to crumble under the blows of the neighboring Russian army grouping. From that moment on, the "domino effect" came into effect, when it became increasingly hard to the AFU to "patch holes" in different areas all at once.
In autumn, our forces liberated the cities of Krasnogorovka, Novogrodovka, Gornyak, Ukrainsk, Selidovo, and many large and minor villages. After that, the Russian army began to advance in two directions: northwards to the cities of Dimitrov (renamed Mirnograd by Ukraine) and Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk), and southwards to Kurakhovo. It is less than two kilometers away from Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) point blank. Near Pokrovsk there is the Krasnoarmeyskaya-Zapadnaya mine with its richest and largest deposits of coking coal and reserves of over 200 million tons. Losing the area will severely bleed out the Ukrainian metallurgy and industry: without Krasnoarmeysk coal, all of Ukraine’s remaining coke and chemical plants will be halted, and loading metallurgical ones will turn into a major organizational, financial and logistical challenge. Moreover, Ukraine will lose such an income item as coal and metal exports. It is only eight kilometers between Krasnoarmeysk and the Dnepropetrovsk region border, and defensive structures are being feverishly built there as the enemy fears further successful Russian offensives. A Washington Post reporter visited the Dnepropetrovsk region and told the audience about pessimistic sentiment in the Ukrainian military. "The morale keeps sinking lower and lower, getting worse and worse," deputy battalion commander of the 33rd Mechanized Brigade told the American.
Russian troops keep marching towards Krasnoarmeysk. The city plays a crucial part in the Russian army’s entire offensive strategy, Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes. So did Ugledar: its liberation in October 2024 finally allowed unblocking direct rail links from Donetsk to Tokmak and Melitopol, providing additional opportunities for the movement of troops, ammunition and food. And in Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) there is a large railway junction, a key supply point for the Ukrainian grouping there. Now, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the station is blocked by Russian artillery, which is why the situation has become critical for Ukrainian defense: there is no time to search for alternative supply routes. Control over logistics hubs such as Ugledar or Pokrovsk is an essential part of new Russian tactics, Swiss experts concluded. That is why it is vital to liberate Kupyansk (the largest transport hub in the Kharkov region’s eastern part).
As for the Kurakhovo direction in the Donbass, the Russian army was able to create an internal fire sac, where the AFU lost maneuverability and suffered losses. The city itself is 90 percent ours, but the Ukrainian military still retain the thermal power plant on western outskirts of Kurakhovo. After capturing the city and the surrounded Bolshaya Novoselka regional center, a direct road to the city of Gulyai-Pole in the Zaporozhye region will get open.
In summer, a military operation began to liberate Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk) along the Gorlovka direction in order to remove the source of constant danger to Gorlovka, a large industrial center in the DPR. The city is still under heavy shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces willing to inflict maximum damage on it before retreat. And Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk) is directly adjacent to Gorlovka’s outlying villages. In order to clear the approaches to the suburbs, in a few weeks, Russian troops recaptured the village of Novgorodskoye (New York), and entered Dzerzhinsk, despite strong enemy resistance. Fierce fighting is still underway here, but the liberation hour is on the horizon: the Russian Armed Forces have taken 70 percent of territories, and the enemy is clinging to the city’s northern outskirts.
The most stressful environment remains in northern Donetsk region, where the next difficult areas and cities — Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk and Druzhkovka — have to be liberated. To reach them, the Russian army is also attacking from the flanks, and not without tactical successes. In Chasov Yar, Russian troops control 70 percent of the city, and fights are underway for the refractory plant, the AFU’s last major stronghold here. After losing the plant, they will roll back to the private sector in western outskirts, where they cannot stay for long. After Chasov Yar is liberated, the next task will be taking fire control of the railway in the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, along which supplies and reinforcements of are delivered to the enemy. The capture of Chasov Yar opens a corridor to the Russian military from the east to Konstantinovka and exposes the main defense line of Ukrainian occupiers in the DPR next to Kramatorsk.
The year 2024 is ending not in Kiev’s favor. The Russian army has moved the front away from Donetsk, breaking the AFU’s robust defenses bolstered since 2014. Russian troops hold the strategic initiative, consistently destroying enemy manpower and military equipment.
