Here >>52316 I speculated Russians want to shorten/straighten the line. Recently they had considerable gains on the southern line, around Vuhledar and on the southern wing of the Pokrovsk push. Made a gif to illustrate the change between August 12 and October 28.
Now a bulge is forming around Kurakhove. The place is considerable fortified, has chains of defensive positions around it while backed by a lake (I think it's an artificial lake formed from the Vovcha river) from the north. I heard Wyatt of DPA mentioning it is home of an Ukrainian HQ and an important supply hub for that front line.
Also DPA mentioned just today that he sees a pincer coming up, noted in picrel #2, for me that is how it would make sense to do it. I believe if they do it would make sense to do, they'll start pushing on the tips, and inside the bag too, an actual cauldron/pocket will never be done, but with the pressure on the three points the AFU will be pushed out, like water from a balloon.

Is Ukraine building defensive lines further back? Both within Donetsk but more importantly outside of it. I might draw my thoughts on a map again sometimes.