Global Conflict Reporting

Tag: Dontesk

  • Slim Ukranian defenders leads to major Russian push.

    By. Scott Jackson

    08/14/2025

    The Ukraine conflict has carried on for 11 years now with the full scale invasion going on 3 and a half years. While Ukraine has done a massive job holding back the forces of one of the largest militaries in the world, recent battlefield changes have the potential to change the course of the whole war to the detriment of Ukraine.

     Russian forces have carried out some of their largest advances of this year, pushing past current frontlines near Pokrovsk. Low numbers of Ukrainian frontline defenders has allowed small groups of Russian soldiers to push past the current mostly stagnant frontlines getting miles behind the front, at current estimates about 10km behind the lines.  If Russia has the reinforcements to push soldiers through these gaps in a larger scale, it could cause major problems for Ukraine. However local reports have it that while Russia is pushing people into the area, it’s leaving other nearby Russian positions undefended.

    Image showing the

    Ukrainian sources are saying that the current situation is chaotic at best. Their enemy has found a weakness and is doing everything possible to exploit it, advancing along a two pronged attack to the West of Pokrovsk. Ukraine needs to rush reinforcements to the region to fill the gaps and attempt to stop a breakthrough and collapse of the front. 

    Image from Deep state maps showing the front in this region at the beginning of the month.
    From yesterday.

    Donetsk has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war and will see even more fighting as Putin and Trump meet in a few days in Alaska. Zelensky believes this attack is aimed at influencing the negotiations. Making it look like Russia is advancing quickly while Ukraine is losing ground. It’s believed Putin will make this a case to Trump in an effort to get him to try to force Ukraine to seek concessions. 

    “The Defense Forces are taking effective measures to stop the advance of Russian troops on the Dobropillia and Pokrovsk directions, where the Russian forces have concentrated over 110,000 personnel,”

    Andriy Kovalov spokesperson of the general staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces

    Analysis

    While the situation hasn’t yet become unmanageable, I don’t want to downplay how serious this could be if it’s ignored. I won’t sugarcoat it. If Ukraine lacks the reinforcements to patch up their defenses  they could lose the whole region and make their position in this war even worse. Ukraine has done an amazing job of doing the impossible in holding off one of the largest armies in the world up to this point. Making sure they rush defenders into this region, anybody they can spare, is paramount. 

    Russia seems to have used small groups operating mostly as a sort of light infantry to push these gaps. Using infantry on dirt bikes and bikes to move troops across open ground quickly. 

    These groups used reconnaissance drones to lead the way and the operations would tell them where to move and when making their losses negligible. In the weeks before now Russia has ramped up its strikes in the region. Open source analysts have noted the increase in glide bomb and artillery strikes in the region as Russia worked to soften up some of the more dug in of the Ukrainian troops who are operating out of trench bunkers and blown out basements. 

    I’ve wrote this article over two days and as I finished it Ukraine was reporting repealing some of these advancing troops.

    Azhur, a battalion commander with Ukraine’s 117th Brigade, said, “Are we holding them? We are. Are we pushing them? We are pushing. Are we advancing? We are.”

    Photo from Pokrovsk.

    While this recent offensive  feels mostly like a push to give Russia more to bargain with at the negotiating table I believe Ukraine also has an ace up their sleeve. The constant wave of attacks on Russian oil and gas production has done untold damage to the Russian economic outlook, losing them hundreds of millions, possibly close to a billion in revenue. Not only that but the war itself has taken its own toll on the Russian economy. 

    More on this as the situation develops. If you want to know what I suspect will happen I think it’s possible these Russian soldiers could be cut off from their support and destroyed but we’ll see.

  • Ukraine War Update

    Ukraine War Update

    By Scott Jackson

    02/10/2025

    Several updates on the war in Ukraine. Expect more coverage on this war from this point on. Im shooting for daily or at least every other day.

    Ukrainian Armed Forces launch a renewed attack on territory in Russia’s Kursk region.

    In an audacious assault Ukraine has managed to launch a surprise offensive from its controlled Russian territory in Kursk, Russia. Russian sources say that Ukraine launched their assault from southeast of Sudzha, pushing towards Fanaseyevka and Ulanok. Russian military bloggers estimate 500 soldiers and 50 armored vehicles (some of which are tanks).

    According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who confirmed the offensive with a statement, said “ “In the areas of the Kursk operation, new assaults have taken place…Russia has once again deployed North Korean soldiers alongside its troops.”

    Russias Ministry of Defense on Saturday had repelled an attack was defeated in the town of

    The Ukrainians seem to have taken advantage of an operational pause from Russia and North Korea and advanced around 3 miles to the village of Fanaseevka, east of the original lines. The forward element has taken position around the Fanaseevka for the moment.

    Ukraine utilized a tactic often employed by Russia for this small advance, proving the Russians lines for weaknesses and then using small fast moving teams supported by small groups of armor to push in and shuttle infantry to new positions further past the original line of contact. This tactic was refined by Russia during the second year of the war, and has been useful since then.

    French Supplied Dassault Mirage-2000 jets operating in Ukraine. 

    Images reportedly taken in the skys above Poland show the Dassault Mirage in the sky’s above Poland.

    Ukraine has received the first of its French supplied Mirage-2000-5 multirole fighters according to the French and Ukrainian goverment. Ukrainian pilots that were trained in France for the past several  months have also arrived with the planes. 

    These single-engine 4th generation aircraft have reportedly been upgraded as so they can utilize munition like the SCALP/StormShadow cruise missile and other guided munitions. Developed in 1991 these jets are comparable with many of the older munitions that Ukraine has been sent. The SU-24s currently filling Ukraines Air to ground attack needs can finally rest. 

    A Mirage 2000 with a SCALP EG/StormShadow cruise missile attacked underneath (in the center).

    Sébastien Lecornu, the French minister of the armed forces said on Twitter  “They will now participate in defending the skies of Ukraine.”

    The Mirage-2000 5 received by Ukraine,  are configured as an advanced air supremacy fighter however it has been modified to also carry out air to ground attacks making this a potent multirole fighter. 

    Ukraine also received a batch of multirole F-16s from the Netherlands that were reported yesterday. The F-16s received in the past were set up strictly for air to air but it’s unclear how these will be configured. The F-16 is a capable multirole fighter, maybe one of the best. All of the aircraft’s capabilities will be put to the test in the next couple months as the war continues. Ukraine will want to use these assets sparingly as they only have a handful at the moment and losing even one trained pilot could hurt them more than the plane itself . That being said video footage has already circulated which is claiming to be a strike on the Russian held town of town of Selydove, Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine.

    Reported to show a US-supplied GBU-61/62 1000/2000 lb bomb being dropped on a Russian command post in Selydove, Donetsk Oblast. Likely carried out with a SU-25.

    While the video is unconfirmed by either side I wanted to include it to show that Ukraine is actively using its air assets already, and will continue to do so.

    Ukraine disputed claims that Russia has complete control over the remains of the city of Toretsk.

    Fighting inside Ukraine the past 6 months has mostly been focused on the Donetsk Region. One of the reasons Russia desires the eastern part of Ukraine specifically is that areas like Donetsk Oblast are heavily industrialized and very valuable. One of these places being fought over is the city of Toretsk (Pop: 30,000).

    Toretsk’s industry, before the war revolved around its coal mines and coke material plants. Coke is made from coal and is used as a fuel in fireplaces and stoves.

    Like Bakhmut and Avdiivka and too many other city’s this war has taken a toll on the city with most of its inhabitants being replaced by soldier from the warring sides. The city skyline is filled with bombed out apartments and rubble. The city is essentially dead, like Avdiivka and Bakhmut.

    The city of Toretsk as seen today.

    Toretsk sits North of Dontesk city and Avdiivka and south of the former fortress town of Chasiv Yar. While Russia has claimed to control the city Ukrainian forces are still contesting it daily. In fact a sort of who can keep their flag up the longest contest has broken out between the two sides.

    Screenshot from the UA Control Map showing the location of the different units that have been geolocated using video footage from the war.

    The Russians have several different units that have been spotted operating in the area. Some of the notable ones are listed here.

    The 9th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade. Part of the DNR forces that were folded into the Russian Army to supplement all of the men lost to the fighting.
    The 3rd Spetsnaz Brigade. Special Forces Brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Russia does its Special Forces a bit different than western armies. Their purpose is a mixture of what somebody in the west would normally think of when you say “Special Forces” like reconnaissance and counter insurgency but also able to do political warfare closer to what the CIA field agents do such as training guerrillas army’s and supporting regime allies. Using them as frontline soldiers is a good way to get a bunch of highly trained soldiers killed. At one point several years ago these guys had burned through 50-70% of their fighters.

    Ukraine is defending with several motorized infantry battalions supported by several other battalions whose main focus is on drone warfare which has been highly effective on the frontline. While the city is a loss the Russian army is still determined to push forward and Ukraine is determined to meet them with force, and wipe out as many Russian soldiers as it can in a perfect example of attrition warfare.

    Several days ago a Russian SU-25 was lost when it was downed by elements of the 28th brigade.

    SU-25 frog foot shoot down and crash.

    Expect more reports like this every couple days. As I get more researched on the current state of the war these reports will contain more information, this was just a plave to start and what’s been going on recently. Thank you for your support.