In the Kharkiv area there was a standard exchange of artillery fire, particularly around Sosnivka and Kozacha Lopan. Russia attempted to attack Dementiivka (1) and Bairak (2) but both attacks were repelled.
The Izyum area is getting increasingly confusing as there is little news but hints of changing control over various areas. It is possible that Ukraine has captured both Sulyhivka and Dovhenke. For now I have kept Sulyhivka as a gray area and Dovhenke as under Russian control.
I am not confident about either. Today Ukraine identified a Russian recon group near Dovhenke and drove them away (3). This is a bit odd, and hints towards a possible Ukrainian presence in or around the town. Similarly, Russian recon was driven away from Dolyna (4).
The lack of news from Bohorodychne has pushed me to extend the uncertain area even further north (A) towards Pasika. It is possible that Ukraine controls this entire gray area, perhaps even Pasika.
The entire Siversk area is effectively an ongoing artillery duel. Today, Russia heavily shelled the Verkhnokamyanka town (B), which is rather small and just west of the Verkhnokamyanka oil refinery which is more obviously labeled on the map.
This small town is one of the two remaining strongholds Ukraine holds in the Luhansk Oblast, the other is their remaining foothold in/around Bilohorivka (C) just north.
I have decided to mark these areas as contested rather than in Ukrainian control, but they certainly are not in Russian control.
Russia moved northwest from Berestove and tried to attack Ivano-Darivka from the south (5). This attack was a complete failure and Russia withdrew.
In the Bakhmut area, Russia has taken a bit of land and is attacking settlements from new angles. In Yakovlivka they continue to attack from the south, without success (6). In Soledar, they are now attacking from the east (7), as opposed to the south east, again without success.
Russia appears to have captured Pokrovske and they are now attacking Bakhmut (8) with little success.
Russia is attacking Zaitseve from the north east (9), Kodema from the north east (11), and Semyhirya from the east (12) all without success. They are still attacking Vershyna from the east (10), but the settlement remains contested.
In the Donetsk area, Russia’s significant advantage in artillery is giving them a decisive advantage in their attacks. In Kamyanka, Russian forces are hoping to capture the town but have had no success (13). This town is not a primary focus at the moment.
In Avdiivka, Russia is using thousands of rounds of artillery per day to destroy Ukrainian defenses, particularly in the forested areas to the south east of the town. Ukraine is suffering many casualties. Today the main fighting occurred near the highway south of the town (14).
In Pisky, Russian artillery poured tens of thousands of shells over the past few days, and the Ukrainian defenses have been pulverized. This afternoon Russia claimed to have captured roughly two thirds of the town (15). Ukraine suffered high casualty rates in this town as well.
In Marinka, just south of Pisky, Russia is pouring in a lot of artillery as well, but the assault has not been successful (16).
In the Hulyaipole/Velyka Novosilka area, Russia performed reconnaissance around Novopil (17) and shelled Novodarivka.
In the Zaporizhzhia front, Ukraine is performing a slow and steady attack south towards Dorozhnyanka (18), Nesterianka (19), and Konovalova (20). All Russian attempts to stop these advances have failed.
In the Kherson/Mykoliav/Kryyi Rih area, Ukraine claims to have liberated 7 more towns. It is difficult to read the tea leaves on which towns these could be. Whether they are newly liberated as of today, or ones they liberated long ago and only felt like tabulating today.
I have marked a few possible towns. Oleksandrivka (D), Doslidne (E), Pravdyne (F), Blahodatne (G), Kyselivka (H), Blahodativka (I), Bilohirka (J), Vysokopillya (K), Petrivka (L).
Beyond that, Russia attacked Trudoliubivka and were repelled (21).
Regarding the Ukrainian venture across the Inhulets River, Russian sources say Ukraine has expanded their area of control. A few days ago I read that both Blahodativka and Bilohirka were contested. Russia attacked Bilohirka and Ukraine, supposedly, attacked Blahodativka.
This is why I believe one or both of these towns could be in Ukrainian control at this point. I have no firm evidence so I have not edited my map.
I want to start by saying I don’t have access to official documents or meetings, so I’m piecing together their motivations based on what I observe and logical reasoning. Keep that in mind as you read on.
This year, Russia's goals are threefold. First, to capture the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Second, to capture Kostyantynivka. Third, to capture Slovyansk.
Each of these goals has necessary steps. To capture the bank in Zaporizhzhia, you must first capture Orikhiv. To capture Slovyansk, you must first capture Lyman. You could argue that to capture Kostyantynivka, you must first capture Chasiv Yar.
These goals are very ambitious and, honestly, impossible to fully achieve. So let’s think of them as aspirations and focus instead on how close Russia might get to reaching them.
Ukraine launched several counterattacks in the Verbove and Ternove areas of Zaporizhzhia. They were quite successful, pushing Russia out of several settlements and possibly capturing some. This also threatened Russia’s main supply route to the west. Because of this, Russia has to do two things: divert resources from their main attack to stabilize the area and try to recapture this ground to keep pushing west toward Orikhiv. Meanwhile, Ukraine gains time to strengthen defenses, plan their strategy, and prepare for more counterattacks, something Russia worries about given their timeline.
This has already delayed Russia’s offensive by months, and it will take many more weeks for them to regain their previous position.
Recently, Russia tried an armored assault on Orikhiv, which failed badly (A). They also tried to advance through Mala Tokmachka (B) before, but that failed too. A direct attack on Orikhiv is unlikely to succeed without heavy losses, so Russia wants to avoid it unless they have no choice. Still, based on past experience, they might end up having to take the town this way.
The military analysis of Iran has been the absolute worst military analysis I have ever seen in my entire life.
There have been times where I listen to some "expert" where almost every word they say in the entire interview is factually wrong. Some of these people are so wrong that I feel like you could have a big box of words and reach in and draw them randomly and it be more factual.
To prove my point, I just asked a LLM to analyze the form of a normal military interview on cable news and using strictly randomly generated words and no access to the actual news please give me a report on what's going on in Ian (unironically, this is what LLMs are good at, probably, just lying about shit):::
From an operational standpoint, the expanding American strike corridor may complicate Iran’s layered coastal defenses, which could scatter missile batteries inland.
At the tactical level, the Iranian drone screen might disrupt a forward U.S. maneuver package, which could stall momentum along the maritime axis.
From the broader battlefield geometry, the concentrated American carrier posture may pressure Iran’s southern command network, which could trigger rapid repositioning of defensive units.
Right now on the ground, the reinforced Iranian coastal belt might absorb the initial U.S. probing attacks, which could slow the opening phase of the campaign.
The main thing that any educated person needs to keep in mind at all times is that realpolitik is fake and everyone who believes in it is typically universally wrong on every single word they ever say.
It is especially funny because realpolitik people are almost never experts in any domain, and they get their info from aggregators. And those aggregators know the realpolitik people use them, and as such present info in a way most likely to influence the realpolitik.
They end up just being unwitting amplifiers of misinformation.
Frankly I think the fastest way to end the war in Ukraine is not by sending tanks or by idiotic peace proposals. The fastest way is to set up factories across europe to produce 1000-2000 long range strike drones per day, and launch hundreds if not thousands of drones into Russia every single day until the country collapses. If they think sending 500 drones into Ukraine is a threat, see how they respond when 3000 drones fly into Russia.
With this many drones you can hammer every single factory, powerplant, substation, oil refinery, and mine in russia relentlessly.
Europe had a million drone program, to supply 1 million fpv drones. Fuck fpv drones. Have a 1 million drone program to supply 1 million strike drones. That's your million drones.
The "stupid westerners, sanctions do not work, we smuggle goods in illegally. muahaha, Russia unstoppable" people tickle me. Sanctions are not for stopping goods entirely, they are for increasing friction because the resources you spend smuggling are resources not spent growing
People fundamentally don't understand the purpose of a sanction. Sanctions are not to stop the war now, although they do damage Russia, the real goal of a sanction is long term economic damage to permanently shrink their economic growth on the timescale of decades.
The sanction is basically saying "okay, you're a threat to me today, and maybe I can't do much about it now, but I will shrink you and outgrow you so in 50-100 years you are no longer a threat to me at all". It is a long term play.
The Russians claim they shoot down Ukrainian aircraft the moment the missile leaves the tube, but we're supposed to believe they shot down two Black Hawks on Tuesday and only announced it after Ukraine leaked Black Hawk footage on Friday. These Black Hawks join the 650 F-16s and 450,000 M777s Russia has 'destroyed.'
GUYS. I AM GOING TO POST A VIDEO WHERE I WILL BLUR THE UNIT LOGOS TO SHIT SO NOBODY CAN TELL I STOLE THE VIDEOS FROM THE ARCHIVE AND THEN POST IT TO THE INTERNET SAYING I KILLED ALL THE SPECIAL FORCES
And then media outlets and super smart think tank people all over the world will believe me for some reason and then everyone will be like omg all the special forces died.