Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up War in Ukraine myFT Digest – delivered straight to your inbox.
Russian forces are moving toward Ukraine's Dnipro region, sidestepping an expected heavy urban battle in the eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine has been preparing for urban warfare in Pokrovsk, a major logistics and transport hub for the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region, since the summer.
But Russian forces advancing from the south are now heading west of Pokrovsk and are less than 7 kilometers from the highway leading to the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the mapping group Deep State, which has ties to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
“They realize they will lose a lot of their forces trying to take Pokrovsk, so they decided to follow a different strategy and approach from the south and go around it,” Andriy Chernyak, a senior Ukrainian military intelligence official, told the Financial Times. Sunday. “They will try to cut off all supplies to Pokrovsk until our forces leave there.”
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the control of the Yantarnoye settlement in the Donetsk region, about 50 kilometers south of Pokrovsk, following “active offensive operations.”
Russian military blogger Voinkur Kotenok posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday that “the border of the Dnipropetrovsk region is now about 6.5 kilometers away.”
The next major city within Dnipropetrovsk is Pavlograd, which is a major Ukrainian military base. The region also includes Dnipro, the fourth largest city in Ukraine.
How quickly Russian troops will take the highway towards Dnipropetrovsk depends on how quickly the Russian troops take the highway towards Dnipropetrovsk Fortifications in the region As well as the Ukrainian workforce, which has been growing Shortage of supply.
A Ukrainian soldier whose brigade is fighting in the Pokrovsk region, who spoke to the Financial Times on condition of anonymity, said the terrain would also be a factor, describing it as “deep, muddy and impassable.”
Russian forces took control of thousands of square kilometers of the Donetsk region in 2024. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Russia seized nearly 4,200 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory last year, most of which was in the Donetsk region. .
This momentum put them in a position to take the highway to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which would cut off Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk, as well as force Ukrainian forces to defend from two directions simultaneously.
“They are trying to get as much territory as possible, so that they have something to negotiate when their forces are eventually exhausted,” Chernyak said.
Ukraine announced on Saturday that it had taken its first North Korean prisoners of war from the Kursk region of southern Russia, providing further evidence of Pyongyang's involvement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the detained men were receiving medical assistance, adding that “the world needs to know the truth about what is happening.”
Ukraine launched a Renewed impetus In Russia's Kursk region last week, after losing about half of the territory it captured in its August incursion. Ukraine and its allies still consider the occupation of Russian territory an essential element in any potential negotiations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Seoul on Monday that Kursk is important for Ukraine. He added: “This is certainly something that would affect any negotiations that might take place next year.”
Animation by Stephen Bernard
