Russian forces advance towards Ukraine’s Dnipro region

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Russian forces are advancing toward Ukraine’s Dnipro region, ignoring an expected heavy urban battle in the eastern Donetsk region.

Ukraine has been preparing for urban warfare since the summer in Pokrovsk, a key logistics and transport hub for the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk region.

But according to Deep State, a mapping group linked to Ukraine’s defense ministry, Russian forces pushing from the south are now heading west of Pokrovsk and less than 7 kilometers from taking the highway in Dnipropetrovsk region.

“They understand that trying to capture Pokrovsk they will lose a lot of their forces so they decided to follow a different strategy and approach from the south and go around it,” Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Cherniak told the Financial Times. sunday

“They will try to cut off all supplies to Pokrovsk so that our forces can move there,” he added.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday announced the capture of the Yantarnoye settlement in the Donetsk region, about 50km south of Pokrovsk, following “active offensive operations”.

“The border of the Dnipropetrovsk region is now about 6.5 kilometers away,” Russian military blogger Voyenkor Kotenok posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

The next major city within Dnipropetrovsk is Pavlograd, a major Ukrainian military base. The region also includes Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth largest city.

How quickly the Russian forces are able to take the highway in the direction of Dnipropetrovsk, depends on the amount Fort in the area As well as Ukrainian manpower, which has been growing Short supply.

A Ukrainian soldier whose brigade is fighting in the Pokrovsk area, who spoke to the FT on condition of anonymity, said the terrain would also be a factor, describing it as “deep, muddy and inaccessible”.

Russian forces captured thousands of square kilometers of Donetsk region in 2024. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said Russia seized about 4,200 square kilometers of Ukraine last year, most of it in the Donetsk region. .

This momentum put them in a position to take the highway into the Dnipropetrovsk region, which would cut off Ukrainian forces at Pokrovsk while simultaneously forcing Ukrainian forces to defend from two sides.

“They’re trying to get as much territory as possible so that when their forces are finally exhausted, they have something to negotiate with,” Cherniak said.

Ukraine announced on Saturday that it had taken its first North Korean prisoners of war from Russia’s southern Kursk region, providing further evidence of Pyongyang’s involvement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the detainees were receiving medical aid, adding that “the world needs to know the truth about what is happening”.

Ukraine launched a Push the renewal in Russia’s Kursk region last week, after losing nearly half of the territory captured in its incursion in August. Russia’s territorial grab is still seen by Ukraine and its allies as key to any potential negotiations.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters in Seoul on Monday that Kursk is important to Ukraine. “Certainly this is something that could come up in any discussions in the coming year,” he added.

Cartography and animation by Steven Barnard