{"id":1298257,"date":"2025-09-27T13:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T10:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/a-thousand-cuts-tactics-occupiers-shift-attacks-to-new-fronts-after-failures-in-donbas\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T07:55:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:55:43","slug":"a-thousand-cuts-tactics-occupiers-shift-attacks-to-new-fronts-after-failures-in-donbas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/a-thousand-cuts-tactics-occupiers-shift-attacks-to-new-fronts-after-failures-in-donbas\/","title":{"rendered":"Donbas Defeat Spurs \u2018Thousand Cuts\u2019 Tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kremlin\u2019s \u201cNorthern Military District\u201d lies in ruins \u2014 tens of thousands dead, advances halved, and no control over Donetsk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, it makes little sense to divide the enemy\u2019s offensive by seasons. The occupying army continues to press the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. What has changed is scale: August\u2019s advance into Ukrainian territory was only half that of previous months, while enemy losses were comparable to those suffered during their greatest advance in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Recall: in November 2024, the Russian advance covered nearly 750 kilometers; now it is no more than 300, yet losses reached some 35,000 in a single month.<\/p>\n

These are colossal achievements for the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Moreover, Ukrainian units now control almost 33 percent of Donetsk Oblast.<\/p>\n

The enemy is currently held up by our layered defenses around the Slovyansk\u2013Kramatorsk agglomeration. That situation creates a precondition for fighting to intensify elsewhere \u2014 if you cannot take it, you at least nibble at other directions. This is precisely why the occupiers intend to expand the theater of operations, primarily toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.<\/p>\n

The Novopavlivske direction in Dnipropetrovsk is strategically important: it lies at the junction of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. The occupiers favor it because its flat terrain opens opportunities to maneuver into operational space. If they succeed, it would give them leverage at the negotiating table and advantages in the information-psychological campaign that backs the so-called SVO.<\/p>\n

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the Novopavlivske direction, the enemy launched 42 attacks over the past 24 hours in the areas of Ivanivka, Yalta, Myrnoye, Yanvarskoye, Tolstoye, Voskresenka, Sosnovka, Novonikolayevka, Poddubnoye, Novoselovka, Berezov,o and Novogrygorovka.<\/p>\n

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky says the enemy is attempting to press deeper in this sector using a \u201cthousand-cuts\u201d tactic. \u201cThey have only one goal: to declare their presence, to plant their flag on a building in a populated area. The situation there is dynamic. The territories are large, and troop density is low on both sides. They (the Russians) have more troops there. But they don’t have the forces and journalists to carry out any decisive offensive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense reports that Russian propaganda is actively deploying a new disinformation tactic: staged surveillance videos of populated areas.<\/p>\n

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, small groups of occupiers carrying Russian flags are infiltrating villages and filming short staged videos to create the illusion of success at the front.<\/p>\n

The agency reports that these productions are used to deliver \u201cvictory reports\u201d to Kremlin leadership and to push propaganda in the media, aimed at exerting psychological pressure on Ukrainian society.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, intensified operations in the Zaporizhzhia sector cannot be ruled out. Notably, Russia has already redeployed the 76th Airborne Division there from the Kursk axis.<\/p>\n

This direction is expected to remain active, with the enemy attempting to push within artillery range of Zaporizhzhia\u2014roughly 20 kilometers. However, capturing the city is unrealistic: Russia lacks the reserves. Aware of this, the enemy is likely to resort to a \u201cscorched earth\u201d tactic.<\/p>\n

Military expert and retired Ukrainian Armed Forces Colonel Oleg Zhdanov warns that if Russian troops advance along the Pokrovsk line and reach the Donetsk\u2013Zaporizhzhia highway, they would gain a direct approach to Zaporizhzhia. Such a move would also threaten the Hulyai-Pole and Orikhiv directions, potentially placing them at risk of encirclement. This, he argues, explains the current Russian flanking attacks on those positions. These strikes are not always intense but are designed to force Ukraine to hold troops there, preventing reinforcements from being shifted to Novopavlivske.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are serious problems with fortifications\u2014there simply aren\u2019t enough defensive lines, or they weren\u2019t built in time. Our troops don\u2019t have time to consolidate: the infantry cannot fully entrench, they are constantly being pushed forward. As a result, the front is being squeezed, and we are gradually being forced back,\u201d Zhdanov noted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the situation in the Sumy sector has stabilized. The enemy\u2019s plan to create a so-called \u201cbuffer zone\u201d has failed, and a repeat offensive there appears unlikely.<\/p>\n

The Kupyansk axis, however, remains highly dangerous. Russian forces continue to pursue the capture of the Kupyansk-Vuzlova railway hub\u2014vital for logistics. Control of this junction would enable them to expand supply lines and concentrate strike forces for a potential breakthrough toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.<\/p>\n

At present, fighting is raging on the northern and northwestern outskirts of the city, as well as near the villages of Tishchenkivka, Kondrashivka, and Malaya Shapkivka.<\/p>\n

According to military analyst Konstantin Mashovets of the Information Resistance group, Russian troops, operating in small infantry groups, have carved out a wide infiltration zone northwest of Kupyansk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese forces of the 6th Combined Arms Army have achieved their immediate objective\u2014they have advanced across a broad front to the R-79 highway, creating conditions to block Kupyansk from the west, along the road to Chuguev. For now, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are unable to prevent this and, due to a shortage of combat-ready infantry, cannot intensify their efforts in this sector,\u201d Mashovets explained.
\nTo sum it up, I would like to point out that the Dnipropetrovsk, Kupyansk, and Sumy directions will only play a distracting role this fall.<\/p>\n

Also, follow “Pryamyi”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Telegram<\/a>, and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Materials published in the \u201cTHOUGHTS\u201d section reflect the opinion of the author of the publication, who bears full responsibility for the accuracy of the information.<\/em>
\n\u2022 The editorial board of prm.ua may not share the opinions expressed in the author\u2019s material.<\/em>
\n\u2022 The owner of the web page in the \u201cTHOUGHTS\u201d section is the author of the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kremlin\u2019s \u201cNorthern Military District\u201d lies in ruins \u2014 tens of thousands dead, advances halved, and no control over Donetsk. However, it makes little sense to divide the enemy\u2019s offensive by seasons. The occupying army continues to press the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. What has changed is scale: August\u2019s advance into Ukrainian territory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1290540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76991,76871,76872,76874,76893],"class_list":["post-1298257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1298257"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1299255,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298257\/revisions\/1299255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1290540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1298257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1298257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}