Day 303: December 23In the Luhansk region today, there were a lot of developments. In an attempt to buy themselves more time to fix the hole in the front line, the Russians launched an extensive attack in the northern part of the region. Their main expectation was that the Ukrainians would be forced to shift their focus, relocate their troops and lose progress in the central part of the region. However, this plan did not work very well. And here is why.Last time, after breaching the Russian defense line, the Ukrainians moved up to 5 km forward towards Sofiivka and significantly diminished the Russian ability to supply and support the Volodymyrivka group. This was the first time the Ukrainian General Staff finally mentioned that the fights were taking place deeper in the region, and today, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that the fights took place in the vicinity of another settlement that has never been mentioned before – Pidkuichansk. This means that the Ukrainians have also advanced from the south and are slowly trying to close the pocket around Kuzemivka.Overall, the situation for the Russians here is extremely problematic. Russian defense capabilities in Volodymyrivka have been undermined, the Russians in Kuzemivka are at a tactical disadvantage, and, on top of that, the Ukrainians are cutting through the front line between these two defense points by advancing from the forest, and now they have also started closing a pocket from the south.The Russians tried to reinforce this region, but due to Ukrainian precision strikes, the Russians seem to have failed to generate a sufficient amount of resources to stabilize the front line. That is why the Russians recently did something different – they decided to once again activate the northern part of the front line, launch an offensive operation in an attempt to drive the focus of Ukrainian forces away from the Kuzemivka front and maybe even relocate some troops back to the Kupiansk area to stabilize the situation.The Russians reportedly opened two lines of attack. Firstly, the Russians attacked Dvorichne, and Hrianykivka. Secondly, and more importantly, the Russians launched a series of attacks from Vilshana and Pershotravneve in the direction of Petropavlivka.The Ukrainians reportedly were not ready for a prolonged battle in this region, which is why to strengthen positions in the vicinity of Synkivka and Petropavlivka, they reinforced this region with an additional battalion and anti-aircraft missile systems, as the Russians usually conduct airstrikes on the areas of advancement. The Ukrainians have also improved their positions on the Orlianka-Kyslivka line by setting up additional observation posts.As a result, Russian attacks were stopped relatively quickly in a matter of two days. Even though the fighting had been taking place in Dvorichne, Hrianykivka, and in the vicinity of Synkivka and Petropavlivka, the only settlement that the Russians managed to establish total control over was Masiutkivka. However, when I looked at the satellite footage, it turned out that this settlement consisted of four houses scattered across the forest, so no tough urban fights took place here.After stabilizing the front line, the Ukrainians are preparing to launch a counterattack. Russian sources reported that they noticed an increased number of scout groups operating along the separation line. On top of that, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance has intensified significantly as well. On top of reconnaissance, additional forces have been deployed to the front. Certain subdivisions of troop battalions were deployed to the area of the crossing over the Oskil River, where positional battles are still taking place. The Ukrainians also conducted rotations to substitute tired troops with fresh ones. And in the meantime, it was also noted that additional crews with Javelin anti-tank systems have arrived in Kupyansk and Petropavlivka to boost defense.The most important thing is that the Ukrainians seem to have managed to stabilize the northern front without compromising their offensive actions around Kuzemivka. There is a chance that the Ukrainians conducted a rotation of troops there at the expense of the Kuzemivka area, however, it is highly unlikely. All sources suggest that the Ukrainians pulled their resources from the northern part of the Kharkiv region, so Ukrainian reserves in the Luhansk area should have been untouched. At least, that’s what reports from the Defense Ministries, and other sources indicate.