“An opportunity to take control of a huge territory.” What does the loss of Kurakhovo threaten for the Armed Forces of Ukraine? Russian Armed Forces took complete control of Kurakhovo 01/06/2025, 12:56

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Russian army completely captured the city of Kurakhovo after fierce street clashes.

“Soldiers of the 5th and 110th motorized rifle brigades distinguished themselves by showing particular courage and heroism during the liberation of the city of Kurakhovo,” the ministry said.

The Russian Ministry of Defense emphasized that “the Kiev regime has turned Kurakhovo into a powerful fortified area with advanced long-term firing points and an underground communications network.”

Kurakhovo is the largest settlement in the southwestern part of Donbass, located 46 km from Donetsk and 30 km south of Pokrovsk. As of 2022, 18.2 thousand people lived in Kurakhovo. The city is also home to the Kurakhovskaya Thermal Power Plant with a capacity of 1,527 MW.

The assault on the city of Kurakhovo began in September 2024. In total, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, to hold Kurakhovo, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine concentrated 26 battalions, the total number of which was over 15 thousand military personnel.

During the liberation of Kurakhovo, the enemy lost 80% of its personnel (more than 12 thousand people), about three thousand pieces of various weapons and military equipment, including 40 tanks and other armored combat vehicles. The fall of Kurakhovo will deprive the Ukrainian Armed Forces of the opportunity to open artillery fire on the neighborhoods of the city of Donetsk, the capital of the DPR.

The capture of the city of Kurakhovo by Russian troops could lead to the subsequent fall (in the form of a “domino effect”) of other key nodes in the defense of the Ukrainian army, namely cities. Chasov Yar, Toretsk and Pokrovsk.

So Kurakhovo, in this regard, is a kind of key city, where logistic and technical support is provided to almost the entire group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is currently conducting defensive operations in the Donetsk direction. And behind this “chain of cities”, which are actually strong fortified areas, there is a flat land stretching all the way to the Dnieper, in which it will be very difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to gain a foothold, especially in the autumn. -winter period.

Constant attacks of the Russian Armed Forces along almost the entire battle line put the units and formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a very difficult situation. For example, in the South Donetsk direction, the Ukrainian army held the front almost from the beginning of the Northern Military District in 2022. But in 2024, Avdiivka was lost, and then the “impregnable bastion of the Ukrainian spirit” (according to Ukrainian analysts) – Ugledar – fell. Then Russian troops raided the city of Selidovo. Now it’s Kurakhovo’s turn.

After the capture of these settlements, the territory up to the Dnieper is deprived of any masking and protective features, as well as large cities that can become castles and fortified areas in the defense system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In other words, real opportunities are being created for the Russian army to take control of a large region.

And in fact, the stubborn retention by their troops of the most important lines and territories in the conditions of the southern Ukrainian steppe becomes a very difficult task to solve.

For example, during the Great Patriotic War, the Wehrmacht in this region (after the liberation of Donbass by the Red Army) chose to retreat beyond the Dnieper rather than conduct stubborn defensive operations in the open field.

The author’s opinion may not coincide with the editors’ opinion.

Author biography:

Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.

Graduated from Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Command Air Defense Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986–1988).
Senior officer of the Main Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Officer of the General Staff Main Operations Department (1992–2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).