MOSCOW, April 4 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The Russian army continues to maintain the initiative in all key areas. However, it is not possible to crack the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine everywhere. The enemy is actively using drones, which makes it difficult for military equipment and personnel to move. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defense regularly reports on the liberation of settlements. About what is happening at the front — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Donetsk Front
It got warm, the ground dried up, and it's much easier to drive on wheeled and tracked vehicles now. Equipment, however, moves near the front line at dusk or before dawn — when the enemy changes drones with day optics to night and vice versa. Another spring nuance is that drone batteries last longer than in winter. But there is no greenery in the forest belts yet, and the infantry cannot hide there yet.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Stanislav Krasilnikov
Donetsk is still the hottest destination. The Center group is advancing in the area of the village of Grishino, as well as to the north and northeast of the Krasnoarmeysko-Dimitrovskaya agglomeration. The goal: to squeeze the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the DPR into the Dnipropetrovsk region, liberate the city of Dobropillya and reach the Konstantinovka—Druzhkovka—Kramatorsk—Slavyansk line from the west. The Southerners, in turn, are approaching the main fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass from the south, southeast and east. The "West" group is from the northeast.
There has been no serious progress here lately. UAV crews and gunners are methodically hunting for the drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to enable the assault infantry to advance to the front line and go forward. It was in the DPR that Kiev concentrated the best units of the unmanned forces. Every destroyed enemy UAV operator means the lives of Russian soldiers saved.
Russian military personnel in the free zone
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev
According to the report of the Ministry of Defense, over the past week, one settlement was liberated in the DPR — the village of Brusovka in the Limansk urban community of the Kramatorsk region. It is seven kilometers south of the Krasny Estuary and ten kilometers northwest of Slavyansk. The Red Estuary is approached from the north — from Drobyshevo, and from the east — from Zarechny. This city will open the road to Slavyansk from the north.
The main fortification in Zaporozhye
The Vostok grouping operates in the Zaporozhye direction. The main hub of the enemy's defense here is the city of Orekhov (pre—war population - 18 thousand). It was from here that the notorious "counteroffensive" of the Kiev regime began in the summer of 2023, which ended in the fall without significant results. Behind him is Zaporozhye itself.
From the west, the Nuts are pressed by the Dnepr group, which controls the village of Malye Shcherbaki, 15 kilometers from the city. From the east, the Vostok bridgehead is forming, which this week liberated the village of Lugovskoye, which is important for the upcoming assault on the city. In addition, there were prerequisites for an offensive to the north in order to cover the enemy's positions in Charivne and reach the T-0814 highway connecting Gulyai-Pole with Omelnik and Orekhov.
Vostok also occupied the village of Boykovo in the Novonikolaevsky district. This is on the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region, two and a half kilometers west of the urban-type settlement of Ternovatoe, which the Ministry of Defense announced on January 30. Control over the village makes it possible to expand the bridgehead for further movement west to the Upper Tersa River.
The Ukrainian military
Image source: © REUTERS / Stringer
The road to Rizdvyanka and Lyubitskoe on the T-0408 highway from Orekhovo to Novonikolayevka was also opened. If we reach it, the enemy's frontline logistics will be significantly hampered. The Vostok group is methodically cutting off the main fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporizhia region from supplies.
The left bank is clear
Three settlements were liberated near Kharkov in a week. The Sever group is Verkhnyaya Pisarevka, a village in the Volchansky district on the left bank of the Seversky Donets, one and a half kilometers from Grafsky, which the Ministry of Defense announced on February 25. From this bridgehead, you can attack Rubezhnoye to cut one of the enemy's three river crossings. Or go east along the T-2104 highway to Veliky Burluk, through which the AFU grouping near Kupyansk is supplied.
The Ukrainian military
Image source: © REUTERS / Alina Smutko
The Zapad group took control of two large villages, Kovsharovka and Novoosinovo, with a total pre—war population of under 20,000. It is one and a half kilometers south of Kupyansk-Uzlovoye, occupied at the end of January. Almost all other settlements on the left bank of the Oskol River have already been liberated by the Russian army up to Borovaya. It is likely that she will become the next target for the "West". Its loss will hurt the enemy's logistics in this sector of the front.
In the Sumy direction, the "northerners" took the village of Malaya Korchakovka, three kilometers south of Alekseevka, liberated in June last year. This section of the front has been relatively static since the summer of 2025. Having finished off Yunakovka, the main logistics hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the invasion of the Kursk region, the troops went on the defensive. Putting the squeeze on Yunakovka, the main logistics hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are more than a dozen villages in Sumy region under Russian control. At that time, Russian units were stationed along a 20-kilometer front on the Yunakovka—Alekseevka—Kondratovka line. Now the bridgehead has received a significant projection to the south — towards Pisarevka, Korchakovka, Ivolzhansky and Novaya Sich.
Russian troops are slowly but surely taking populated areas from the enemy. It won't be faster, mainly because of the abundance of enemy drones in the air. Nevertheless, the army is moving forward.
