10 days ago, hours before meeting Donald Trump in Alaska, Vladimir Putin wanted to change the impression of his interlocutors by trying to demonstrate that Russia was going to take Donbass peacefully (demanding it at the negotiation table) or by force (by assault). He has not achieved either.
The unsettling infiltration of Z troops in the Donetsk front, which advanced almost 17 kilometers beyond Ukrainian lines and even managed to cut off the road connecting the Dobropillia area with Kramatorsk, two of the most important cities in Ukrainian-controlled Donbass, is ending tragically for the Russian soldiers involved in that operation. Most have died, surrendered, or are isolated. The main objective of the Russian summer offensive was to take Pokrovsk (or what remains of it), but it will have to wait. The siege of the city began in October 2024 and still remains in the hands of Ukraine, which has successfully counterattacked in its surroundings.
Ukrainian actions, mostly carried out by the third Azov assault brigade and the 92nd mechanized brigade from Kharkiv, have cut off the logistical lines of Z troops and left them stranded, without the possibility of being supplied with food and ammunition and without contact with their units. "If we were to flush them out of their hiding spots, we would have casualties, so we are only giving them two options: surrender or starve to death," a Ukrainian military source from that front told this newspaper.
The clock is ticking towards autumn, and with autumn comes the rains and the dreaded rasputitsa, literally, the sea of mud, a phenomenon that occurs in the black soil of Ukraine or chernozem, which does not absorb water and turns unpaved roads into impassable traps, as Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler experienced in their respective races to Moscow.
Since August 7, Z troops began infiltrating about 17 kilometers behind Ukrainian lines in the most conflictive and hottest zone, between the besieged city of Pokrovsk and the strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the true Achilles' heel of Ukraine in the Donetsk region that they still control. They advanced on foot in an area where Ukrainian drones no longer searched for them, following a path previously marked by their officers. Larger Russian drones (Molniya) supplied them with food and water along the way without attracting attention, occupied some basements, and fortified themselves awaiting reinforcements.
According to the Ukrainian publication Deepstate, which monitors the battlefield through videos and photos posted on the internet, the Russians not only surpassed the extensive Ukrainian defenses built on the outskirts of Pokrovsk, which include three layers of moats, dragon's teeth, and minefields, but on the 11th day, as per the same publication, they reached the road connecting Kramatorsk, the heart of Ukrainian Donbass, with the rest of the country at some point. However, reinforcements did not arrive in time, and Ukraine was able to react. Now the situation has turned around, creating a cauldron where there may be dozens of Russians holding positions without connection to their lines.
The prisoners who are captured show signs of dehydration and extreme fatigue. In no case were they elite troops, but rather groups of saboteurs used by Russia to exploit the lack of infantry in Ukrainian lines. The front has once again stabilized in the three areas where Russia attempted this infiltration strategy.
Two days ago, Zelensky already warned that "pleasant surprises were coming from Donbass." He refers to all these operations to locate and isolate these Russian sabotage groups in the rear of Ukrainian lines. The Kremlin has done exactly what was expected: disregard them and abandon them to their fate.
In the fourth summer of the Russian invasion, Moscow's troops' offensive is progressing exactly like the previous ones: exhausted troops, increasing casualties, catastrophic destruction of armored vehicles (which are almost not used anymore), disoriented prisoners, and minimal advances here and there, sometimes lost within hours due to the inability to consolidate them.
The Institute for the Study of War "previously assessed that Russian infiltration tactics and a low density of manpower in Ukrainian trenches along the Pokrovsk front seemed to have allowed Russian forces to temporarily re-establish a limited tactical maneuver to the east and southeast of Dobropillia, but Russia's inability to establish the logistics to support and reinforce the forward units operating within the penetration has degraded Russia's ability to expand and exploit the penetration."
But Ukrainian counterattacks have found, in some points, that the Russians, in their eagerness to advance, had not prepared defenses. In the coming days, we may see how the Kremlin's recklessness could cost them even more dearly. Ukrainian troops have liberated Myrne, near Pokrovsk. With this move, they have managed to tighten the northern noose around the city. Their situation is becoming increasingly precarious.