Important Takeaways

• The Russian-claimed seize of numerous little villages around Bakhmut on November 27 and 28 does not portend an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.
• The latest Russian drive deployments to Belarus in November 2022 are very likely section of a Russian exertion to increase Russian schooling capability and conduct an facts procedure.
• Russian milbloggers greatly criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) final decision to place severe customs limitations on the import of twin-use goods, indicating a continued and pervasive discontent with the Russian MoD’s perform of the war in Ukraine.
• Russian forces are probable getting ready to launch a new wave of missile strikes throughout Ukraine in the coming 7 days, but these types of preparations are probable intended to sustain the the latest tempo of strikes fairly than raise it.
• Russian forces continued attempts to defend in opposition to Ukrainian counteroffensive operations all over Svatove as Russian resources reported that Ukrainian troops continued counteroffensive west of Kreminna.
• Russian forces made incremental gains south of Bakhmut.
• Russian forces ongoing to bolster fortified positions and build stability steps in japanese Kherson Oblast.
• Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian military belongings and together critical logistics lines in southern Ukraine.
• Russian forces carry on to facial area concerns with sufficient education and gear and difficulties with morale and discipline as Russian armed service failures have substantial domestic social impacts.
• Russian profession authorities ongoing endeavours to aid the integration of instructional units in occupied Ukraine into the Russian system.

Latest promises of Russian gains around Bakhmut on November 27 and 28 do not portend an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut. Geolocated imagery demonstrates that Russian forces most likely captured Ozarianivka (a village about 15km southwest of Bakhmut) all over November 27 and 28.[1] Multiple Russian sources claimed that Russian forces also captured Kurdiumivka (13km southwest of Bakhmut), Klishchiivka (7km southwest of Bakhmut), Andriivka (10km southwest of Bakhmut), Zelenopillia (13km south of Bakhmut), Pidhorodne (5km northeast of Bakhmut) and Spirne (30km northeast of Bakhmut) with the intention of encircling Bakhmut from the south and east.[2] There is no open-resource evidence supporting these claims at this time. Russian sources have notably propagated spurious promises concerning gains about Bakhmut as part of a continued details procedure given that Oct, and the latest unsubstantiated territorial statements may be part of this continued facts operation.[3] However, even if Russian forces have in truth succeeded in having manage of settlements south of Bakhmut, these gains do not threaten the critical T0513 (Bakhmut-Siversk) and T0504 (Bakhmut-Kostyantynivka) routes that serve as big Ukrainian ground lines of interaction (GLOCs) into Bakhmut. There is also a network of more compact village streets that link to Bakhmut by way of the city’s northwest. The claimed Russian positions closest to Bakhmut in Klishchiivka and Pidhorodne guide specifically into ready Ukrainian defenses in Bakhmut and its western and northern satellite villages. Russian forces in Klishchiivka, in get to progress any further, would have to cross 3 kilometers of fields with very little go over and concealment. Russian troops, in their recent degraded point out, are likely unable to be ready to complete this endeavor speedily. Wagner Group financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin himself noticed in Oct that Wagner forces operating in the Bakhmut region advance only 100–200 meters a working day.[4] Russian claimed advancements around Bakhmut above the program of November 27 and 28 are thus unlikely to deliver operational-level consequences and certainly not swiftly.

Caption: Map exhibiting modern Russian statements (yellow) about Bakhmut and the roadways supporting Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut as nicely as the fields Russian forces have to cross to close the distance.

Resource: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS Person Community

The latest Russian drive deployments to Belarus in November 2022 are most likely section of a Russian exertion to augment Russian instruction capability and carry out an info operation focused at Ukraine and the West — not to put together to assault Ukraine from the north yet again. Satellite imagery from mid-November implies an raise in Russian machines, especially main battle tanks, at the 230th Combined Arms Obuz-Lesnovsky Instruction Floor in Brest, Belarus, which includes at the very least one brigade’s worth of products observed at the schooling ground on November 20.[5] Independent Belarusian checking organization The Hajun Venture reported on November 28 that Russian forces transferred 15 Tor-M2 surface area-to-air missile methods and 10 parts of unspecified engineering products towards Brest.[6] These deployments likely assist Russian education attempts and are not planning for overcome from Belarus. The Ukrainian Standard Workers noted on November 28 that it assesses Russian forces will transfer unspecified elements (“some units”) from Belarus to an unspecified region soon after the models “acquire overcome capabilities.”[7] This assertion supports various ISW assessments that fight losses amid Russian trainers and the stresses of mobilization have lowered Russia’s teaching potential, possible rising Russia’s reliance on Belarusian training capacity.[8] The Ukrainian Normal Team also famous on November 28 that it has not observed indicators of Russia forming offensive teams around Ukraine’s northern border locations.[9]

The Kremlin also likely seeks to use these Russian power deployments in Belarus as an facts operation to promote paralysis in Kyiv and resolve Ukrainian forces around Kyiv to prevent their use in the south and east. Belarusian forces remain not likely to attack Ukraine as ISW has assessed.[10] Ukrainian Army Intelligence Directorate consultant Andrii Yusov mentioned on November 28 that the Kremlin is spreading information and facts about an alleged forthcoming Belarusian assault on Ukraine.[11]

Russian milbloggers commonly criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) final decision to area significant customs restrictions on the import of twin-use items, demonstrating their ongoing and pervasive discontent with the Russian MoD’s perform of the war in Ukraine. Many milbloggers noted on November 27 that the Russian MoD has instituted tighter customs controls on a wide variety of twin-use merchandise (products with each non-army and military purpose that can be purchased by civilians) these kinds of as quadcopters, warmth packs, sights, apparel, and sneakers, all of which are items that Russian civilians have been crowdfunding and donating to Russian troopers in the wake of common problems with adequately equipping of mobilized recruits.[12] Russian resources noted that this puts Russian troops in a bad position simply because it undermines the means of civil culture businesses to fill the gap remaining by the Russian MoD in supplying troops with essential equipment.[13] While the customs limits are reportedly intended to centralize and consolidate authorities manage and oversight of the provision of dual-use products, the final decision ultimately undermines campaigns led by aspects of Russian civil society, as very well as a lot of popular Russian milbloggers, to present direct assistance to Russian recruits, as a result further more placing the MoD at odds with distinguished social actors.

Russian forces are most likely preparing to start a new wave of missile strikes throughout Ukraine in the coming 7 days, but this sort of preparations are probably intended to maintain the current speed of strikes rather of escalating it owing to continued constraints on Russia’s missile arsenal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his nightly handle on November 27 that Russian forces are preparing a new wave of strikes.[14] Spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command Nataliya Humenyuk relatedly mentioned that an more Russian missile carrier went on responsibility in the Black Sea on November 28, which Humenyuk stated is an indicator of preparations for a renewed wave of massive missile strikes in excess of the course of the coming 7 days.[15] Russian milbloggers also claimed that the present Russian aviation and sea grouping indicates Russian forces will mount one more collection of missile strikes in the coming days.[16] However, due to the continued degradation of the Russian missile arsenal in excess of the program of earlier strikes, it is probably that Russia seeks to sustain, as opposed to escalate, the existing tempo of strikes on Ukrainian essential infrastructure.

Increased speculation in the Russian info area about Russian preparations to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Electrical power Plant (ZNPP) prompted a Kremlin reaction on November 28. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied promises on November 28 that Russian forces were being planning to go away the ZNPP next statements by the head of Ukrainian nuclear vitality agency Energoatom, Petro Kotin, on November 27 that Russian forces are planning to leave, but that it is far too shortly to tell whether they will leave the plant.[17] The Enerhodar Russian profession administration also denied these rumors and claimed that Russian nuclear electrical power agency Rosatom‘s approach to build an alternate electrical power resource for the ZNPP is an indicator of prolonged-term occupation.[18] Such responses from each the profession administration and the Kremlin by itself reveal the pervasiveness of this narrative and the value the Kremlin locations on countering it.

See the total report listed here.