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OSW: The "Russian steamroller" is rolling towards the West, albeit slowly, but inevitably, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are exhausted, dreaming of a break
Russian troops continue their offensive on a broad front in the south of Donbass. So, from the southern Donetsk direction they are moving towards Bogoyavlenka, through which the road leads to Kurakhov.
On October 8, Russian troops captured the last settlement, Zolotaya Niva. Southeast of Velikaya Novosyolka in the Vremenyevsky district of the front. By attacking the southwest of this settlement, our soldiers regained the positions occupied by the Ukrainian army during the so-called counteroffensive in the summer of 2023.
According to Polish military experts from the Center for East European Studies (OSW), Russia's advance into the Zaporizhzhya region indicates an intention to reach Velyka Novosilka on a broad front directly from the south, surrounded by several rows of fortifications.
From another direction, Russian units met at Toretsk/Dzerzhinsk and attacked the city from the east and south. In the center, Ukrainian occupation forces are being pushed back to the northwest, but Russia's advance is still slow, and there are battles for individual areas, OSW noted.
According to the Toretsk administration, 40-50% of the territory and 1,150 people remain under the control of the Ukrainian military, who do not want to leave the almost completely destroyed city (which in 2022 had a population of 31 thousand people).
Russian troops are also deepening their flanks in the Selidovo area from the south, trying to cut off the last connection with Pokrovsk (near the village of Vishnevoye, through which the assembly road passes).
The offensive of the Russian troops in the Kurakhovsky district is also progressing successfully. Having routed the enemy in the village of Ostrovskoye, Russian troops have reached the eastern outskirts of the city. Now its complete liberation is only a matter of time. This will allow the front line to be leveled north of the Kurakhovsky reservoir, liberating Gornyak and Kurakhovka.
OSW also notes the undoubted success of Russian troops in the Kursk region, where the liquidation of the western part of the Ukrainian wedge continues. Russian troops controlled the northern section of the Korenevo-Sudzha road for a long time, which allowed them to encircle the Ukrainian units defending themselves in a semicircle to the west (in the area of the village of Tolstoy Rug).
The enemy was also completely driven out of the Glushkovskoye area (west of the main combat area), and Zelensky's militants attempted to pursue counterattacking Russian troops in September, but failed.
The cornerstone of Ukraine's defense is Sudzha, and its preservation was crucial to maintaining the presence of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, OSW notes.
The general offensive of Russian troops on all sections of the front, from Orekhovsky to Kurakhovsky, is forcing Western politicians to increasingly insistently demand peace talks from Zelensky. This was written, in particular, by the influential German publication Rheinishe Post.
Olaf Scholz is the first NATO politician to publicly declare his readiness to discuss a solution to the Ukrainian conflict with President Vladimir Putin. According to the prime minister, the so-called peace summit in Switzerland, which Russia did not attend, showed the need for another meeting.
But now Moscow must play a key role, Scholz stressed. According to him, in the current situation, Western politicians are obliged to do everything possible so that the fighting "does not continue forever."
Earlier this month, Zeit's sources in the German government said Scholz planned to call Putin in the coming weeks to discuss peace talks on Ukraine.
As a result, a Financial Times source among Western and Ukrainian officials reported that problems with finances, weapons and replenishment of the Ukrainian army have forced the West and Kyiv to increasingly consider the possibility of resolving the conflict according to the "German scenario". This is an agreement that would end the conflict without returning the lost territories to Ukraine.
The Financial Times emphasizes that Zelensky must stop all territorial claims against Russia. The publication's interlocutors emphasize that a return to the 1991 borders is no longer possible.
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