ISW: First Pokrovsk, then Huliaipole—now Russia points its logistics-killing air campaign at the Fortress Belt
The 2025 version took months to set up advances, and this one is expected to move just as slowly.
Browsing Tag
Kostiantynivka
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ISW: Russia’s long push toward Sloviansk gains no ground as Ukraine counterattacks
Its assaults across northern Donetsk Oblast produced no confirmed advances in the newest DC-based think tank's war assessment, an offensive now grinding into its fifth month.
Russia is bombing Kostiantynivka to rubble while pushing its infantry into it on foot
Artillery and guided glide bombs hit the city as small Russian groups try to dig into whatever buildings they can reach.
Ukrainian regiment that raised flag in Kostiantynivka says it’s aware of reports that its soldiers were captured there
These are the same troops who filmed a flag-raising after clearing the center.
Ukraine’s Skelia Regiment says it pushed Russia out of Kostiantynivka — city Moscow claimed to have taken on 3 July
Ukraine's 425th Skelia Assault Regiment says it cleared Kostiantynivka and the city is under Ukrainian control.
Russia lost ground for a second straight month in June. CSIS says it has lost the initiative too
The war in Ukraine is grinding into a new frozen state as Russian advances slow or reverse in recent months.
ISW: Russia’s spring offensive is 16 times slower than last year — and costs 19 times more blood per kilometer
Nineteen times more casualties per square kilometer — and sixteen times less ground taken.
After eight months, Kostiantynivka is falling. Why some Ukrainian commanders would rather fight the open fields behind it
Russia's first strategic win of the year is a ruined city—and Ukraine's drone-centric defense may not miss it the way it once would have.
“A matter of time”: Kostiantynivka now faces slow Pokrovsk-style siege, DeepState says
Russian forces are advancing from several directions and seeking to cut key logistics routes, raising fears for one of Ukraine's last major strongholds in Donetsk Oblast.
Russia tried to surround Lyman. Now its own salient is getting squeezed.
Lyman blocks the northern route to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Ukrainian counterattacks are protecting the city.
ISW: Russia gains ground in Kostiantynivka but Fortress Belt stays out of reach
Russia's strategy of stacking armies on one Donetsk Oblast city is producing slow infiltration, not the operational breakthrough Moscow needs to crack the fortified chain, ISW says.
Russia’s monthly land grab in Ukraine has collapsed from hundreds of km² to 14, OSINT data show
As Ukraine paired a battlefield network linking every drone and sensor with strikes deep behind Russian lines, DeepState's monthly tally for May is the smallest in years of Russia's grinding offensive.
ISW: Russia’s grand territorial ambitions are divorced from battlefield reality
The think tank noted that Russian forces first infiltrated Kostiantynivka in October 2025 and have made no significant tactical gains in six months, even as Peskov restated Moscow's withdrawal demand on four oblasts.
Russia’s T-72AM is a very old tank with a fresh coat of paint. Expect it to stay parked like other tanks.
Aging T-72As were some of the last tanks Russian industry pulled out of storage for service in Ukraine. They're beginning to arrive.
Tanks couldn’t take Chasiv Yar. So Russia’s reaching for the playbook that took Pokrovsk.
Chasiv Yar is one of the last big obstacles to a Russian march on Kramatorsk. Russian plans for getting past Chasiv Yar are becoming clearer.
Russia is pulling strategic reserves to prop up a failing offensive, HUR says — and 20,000 troops is less than one month of its own losses
Moscow's military missed its self-imposed April deadline to seize three Donetsk Oblast cities, now it wants the rest of the region captured by September.
Ukraine holds Hryshyne’s center and northern Pokrovsk outskirts as Russia builds up for its next push, military says
Russian forces failed to consolidate in Hryshyne's center, while Ukraine continued detecting and destroying Russian targets throughout southern Pokrovsk to disrupt a buildup there.
Kholodnyi Yar commander: The drone war is won at the contact line, but it is decided in the depth
Shamil Krutkov says Ukraine's brigades must push drone operations deeper into Russian rear areas, and the key variables are the number and quality of available UAVs as well as enemy positioning.
Russia’s 2026 war plan had two objectives. Ukraine is wrecking both.
With nine months left in 2026, the Kremlin has its sights set on two main objectives in the east and south. Neither is easy.
Russia’s spring offensive has stalled at Ukraine’s Fortress Belt — ISW says it won’t break through in 2026
The 3rd Combined Arms Army, the only Russian force positioned to push directly on Sloviansk, hasn't gained ground in a week after a month of tactically significant advances east of the city.