I’ll do my best to publish the fortifications thread today 🛠️

Thread is out, go check it out!

▶️ https://x.com/Playfra0/status/1896612961541845081

🗺Techinical Control Map updates🗺

1. After 8 months of mapping Russian advancements, I finally archived every single Russian action, be it retreat or advancement, in a single togglable layer. You can freely use the data of this layer, but you will have to provide credits!

2. Because of this, I was able to make 1 layer for Russian control and 1 for Ukrainian control. This way, the total number of features was reduced by much, resulting in a *massive* performance boost. You will experience a much more fluid and stutterless experience going through my map from now on.

3. Disabled the fortification layer by default when the map opens (simply enable it if you need it from the layer menu, it's still there). This resulted in a further performance boost.

4. From now on, I will update the map from my QGIS interface, rendering the daily updates process more streamlined and faster, which will result in me publishing more of them.

5. Further small refinements and changes to be expected soon.

If you think I should change anything, don't hesitate to DM me anywhere you'd like, I usually respond quite soon.

Map: https://google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1oEtMBEGWIrZIIgIqOWcr7g99dujWshQ&ll=48.213595591597695%2C37.71532695530878&z=10

And yes, I'm finally back everyone 🤣

Common misconception here. If you're wondering if I just disclosed sensitive data about positions' location, that is not true. Both sides know exactly where the other side's positions are, from the biggest trench systems to individual dugouts in the middle of forests dug a couple of days earlier. I'm not revealing anything new here. Furthermore, the sources I use to find these trenches are publicly available online, you too can check them out.

There are updates about the satellite imagery I use to map trenches. More updates to follow, stay tuned.

Shortly on the situation at #Vesele.

Yesterday, #Russia was able to advance to the village's northernmost houses, where they were recorded with a flag (47.935572,36.758908)¹.
There, they were able to consolidate because of strong artillery and drone activity, that destroyed armour in the region and suppressed #Ukrainian positions². This, coupled with a risky flanking attack from #Dniproenerhiia³, enabled the #Russians to reach a point of almost full control over the village.⁴

At the moment, assault actions are already ongoing for Fedorivka, just north of Vesele⁵. No success has been reported for now.

The problem in all this stands in the fact that Vesele was one of the key pins of #Ukraine's 2nd #Zaporizhzhia line, as you can see from photo #2.
This moments are #Ukraine's last chances to contain #Russian forces here without transferring reserves to the detriment of other parts of the frontline. Either the village has to be recaptured, or Fedorivka and the strongholds further west belonging to the 2nd #Zaporizhzhia line maintained. Otherwise, the defensive line will fold on itself and put at serious risk whatever is further south.

The #Ukrainians recognized this threat already some time ago, and started hastily placing barbed wire and dragon's teeth, digging anti-tank ditches and new trenches and upgrading older systems. The line, though, is at low levels of completion, rendering its use limited.

In photo #3 I made visible Russian attack routes and Ukrainian fortifications, while in photo #4 you can easily see a Ukrainian 2023 trench system and a 2022 system just south-west of the town. About the 2023 one, it's clear that it was made to withstand Russian attacks coming from the south (as you can see there are many more dugouts and covered firing positions in the southern part of the system), so it's unlikely they will be able to hold out for long if they will be attacked from the north-east.

¹https://news.1rj.ru/str/voin_dv/14234
²https://news.1rj.ru/str/muchnoyairborn/11732
³https://deepstatemap.live/en#15/47.9335248/36.7798662
⁴ ⁵https://news.1rj.ru/str/muchnoyairborn/11745

I'm working on the next analysis about the new Russian offensives. I'm quite sure I've been able to correctly identify their goals. Stay tuned

On the situation in the Kotlyne salient (Uspenivka - Shevchenko):

- The Russians entered Uspenivka, there are fire engagements on the westernmost street of the village, which the Russians are trying to clear out. The reporters claiming about complete control over the village are, as such, false.

- Russian forces were able to at least partially return under their control areas recently recaptured between Udachne and Kotlyne (specifically, the railway). The sides are facing each other on the windbreaks on the opposite sides of the railway. At the moment, fighting is ongoing for the Ukrainian-controlled windbreak.

- In the northern part of Shevchenko there are also fire engagements. There, talking about control is impossible. The situation is extremely dynamic, and positions change hands often.

- In general, the Ukrainians are significantly fortifying their positions in the Pokrovs'k direction, even digging some underground tunnels. At the moment, even though severely lacking manpower, the Ukrainians are fighting to the best of their capabilities. For the Russian side, instead, Ukrainian drones prove to be a severe problem.

The information you just read is the most accurate and up-to-date you can currently find, and it was given to me by a soldier currently fighting somewhere in the Kotlyne salient.
If you would also like to tell me about your opinions, especially if you live near the front or if you're also fighting, I would be extremely glad to hear them. Your identity will be kept secret, and information will not be divulged without your consent.

Today there has been progress from the Russian side in Uspenivka along the westernmost street, but it's too early to talk about consolidation, fighting is still ongoing.

There is significant progress from the Ukrainian side regarding construction of fortifications along the whole front. I'm still mapping as of now, if I won't be able to report further on this, everything will be listed in the usual end-of-month fortification summary. For now, the most active directions are Novopavlivka, Pokrovsk and the Kramatorsk - Kostyantynivka agglomeration.

By the way, I'm also working on something big, which will be finished in a week or so.
For now, let's just say it's better than Google MyMaps 😁😁

In the meantime, keep yourself informed with this thread from Clément, where he kinda "deciphers" my lately cryptic messages about Ukrainian fortification works. A little longer than usual, but 100% worth it.

https://x.com/clement_molin/status/1915417935574687965

Nadiivka/Nadezhdynka.
Russian forces of the 90th Tank Division advanced in the village's private sector and entered the fortified "Hangars" just northwest of it.
With this style of control representation, you can easily notice how precarious Ukrainian positions are in the area.
Here, I did not mark as Russian controlled fields, swamps, roads, and similar objects, but rather only places where there is actual Russian presence. That is, dugouts, houses, forests, treelines.

The situation in Uspenivka is the following.