Analyst Clement Mullen believes that the Ukrainian armed forces have stabilized the situation near Slavansk, but in Kramatorsk it is getting worse.
Russia advanced on Slavansk for several months, but the defense forces managed to stabilize the front. According to Mullen, this happened thanks to reinforcements and the fact that the defense of the direction was entrusted to General Biletsky.
Since October, Biletsky has commanded the operational directorate of the "Center" forces, which is responsible for the front section from Kopiansk-Uzlovi to Konstantinovka, including Slaviansk and Kramatorsk. On October 19, he transferred command of the 3rd Corps to Dimitri Rogoziuk.
Russian infiltration by small groups continues, but there have been no recent reports of Russians entering Nikolaevka, where the large Slavyanskaya thermal power station is located. This indicates that the approaches to the city were secure. In addition, Ukrainian forces advanced through the forests between Nikolaevka and Liman towards Yampol. This made it possible to bring the UAV teams and some artillery closer to the front. According to Russian sources, the Ukrainian armed forces can now hit Russian units trying to penetrate towards Nikolaevka. During the day on November 14, the General Staff counted 6 attacks in the direction of Slavansk in the area of Kariboi Loka and Nikolaevka, all of which were repulsed, and ISW reports that the Ukrainian armed forces counterattacked and advanced in the western part of Pyskonovka, a village near Kariboi Loka.
At the same time, the Russians took over a significant part of Rai-Alexandrovka, Ukrainian and Russian sources report this. The Ukrainian army continues to remove groups that have infiltrated, and in some places they are counter-attacking, for example along Severskyi Donetsk near Kariboi Luka and further south. On November 9, DeepState recorded a Russian advance of 1.6 square kilometers there. For comparison, according to his data, in the Slavic direction Russia conquered an average of 3.1 square kilometers per day in November this year, 16.8 in November last year and 7.9 in January.