MOSCOW, Aug 29 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The summer campaign is coming to an end. The Russian army retains the initiative in key areas and is actively storming the borders of the main fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass. At the same time, the control zone near Zaporizhia and in the border area is expanding — in Sumy and Kharkiv regions. An offensive in different sectors of the front forces the enemy to pull forces apart. About the latest events in the SVO zone — in the material of RIA Novosti.
The main fortified area
The most intense fighting is in the area of responsibility of the groups "Center" and "South", in the Donetsk People's Republic. After the liberation of Konstantinovka, the flank of the southern bastion of the enemy's "fortress cities" belt in the north of the DPR (Druzhkovka, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk) was exposed. The South group is wedged into a huge agglomeration of continuous urban development, where it is easier to hide from drones.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev
As Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said the other day, the "Southerners" are now actively attacking in Alekseevo-Druzhkovka. About half of the settlement is already under the control of Russian troops. From some directions, the assault units approached Druzhkovka by one and a half kilometers. There are many factories in the city itself: machine-building, gas equipment, hardware, porcelain. The Ukrainian Armed Forces will try to cling to the industrial zone, as it was in many places.
At the same time, according to Gerasimov, intense fighting is taking place east of Kramatorsk — at an airfield three kilometers from the city. And the units of the "South" have already approached Slavyansk four kilometers from the bridgehead at Rai-Alexandrovka. Most likely, the main blow will be delivered at the junction between these two cities. If the "southerners" manage to cut the N-20 highway connecting them, the garrisons of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk will lose land communications. After that, they can be destroyed separately.
Surround the city
In the west of the republic, not far from the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region, the bulk of the combat work fell on the shoulders of the fighters of the Center group. The city of Dobropillya (pre—war population — 30,000) is the last major settlement of the former Donetsk region remaining in the area under Kiev's control. The enemy has gathered serious forces here.
Vehicles of the mobile firing group
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Evgeny Biyatov
It is a mining town with mostly low- and medium-rise buildings. The basis is the residential quarters of the Soviet period, formed around urban infrastructure and industrial enterprises. Perhaps the most significant is Dobropolieugol, one of the largest coal mining companies in Ukraine, with five mines. The loss of such a valuable asset will hurt the Kiev regime, which is losing the coal industry in front of its eyes.
The divisions of the "Center" managed to significantly expand the control zone around Dobropillya. During the week, the group's forces liberated Kucherov Yar and Annovka. From the first settlement, you can access the T0514 highway through the Golden Well, connecting Dobropillya with Kramatorsk. Annovka is directly adjacent to the city from the northeast. It is probably from here that the assault groups will begin to seep into the building.
Earlier, the fighters of the "Center" took control of New Donbass and Kutuzovka, five kilometers east of Dobropillya. From here, the offensive continues on a wide front. In parallel, Dobropillya is under pressure from the south — from Krasnopodillya and Vodyansky. From these positions to the outskirts of the city, it is only three kilometers in a straight line and there is not a single settlement controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, the "Center" is making its way to Dobropole from the southwest - from Grishin and Novoaleksandrovka. If we manage to reach the city from the west, a large group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be in a pincer movement. Its defeat will free up forces to attack the Druzhkovka—Kramatorsk—Slavyansk line from the west.
On Nuts
The units of the Vostok group of forces continue to advance deep into the enemy-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region. During the week, the settlements of Dolinka, Nezhenka and Shevchenkovskoye were liberated. Dolinka tactically connects with the previously liberated Rovny and Kopany. These villages are stitching the bridgehead into a single piece northeast of Orekhov. From here you can go west towards the village of Chervony Yar, located on the highway T0408. It connects Novonikolayevka and Orekhov.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev
Four kilometers from it is the village of Nezhenka. Control over it opens the way to the large village of Barvinovka, an important transport and logistics hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the east of the Zaporizhia region. And from Shevchenkovsky, located near the border with Dnipropetrovsk region, you can advance north towards the highway N-15, connecting two large villages — Novonikolayevka and Pokrovskoye.
The main target of the Vostok group is the city of Orekhov, the main enemy defense hub in the Zaporizhia region. It was from here that the Ukrainian counteroffensive began in the summer of 2023. The liberation of Orekhov will allow Russian troops to begin moving directly towards the half-million-strong city of Zaporizhia, one of the largest industrial centers in southern Ukraine.
Buffer zone
The fighters of the North group, who perform combat missions to form buffer zones in the border areas of the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, also distinguished themselves during the week. They established control over the settlements of Pershe Travnya and Pisarevka, Sumy region. The first village stands on the border with the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region, three and a half kilometers south of the Russian Elizavetovka. Three kilometers to the southeast is Kondratovka, which was liberated by the North group more than a year ago, in early June 2025.
Pisarevka is located ten kilometers to the southwest - at the forefront of the bridgehead formed in Sumy region. Today it runs along the Pisarevka— Ivolzhanskoe — Kiyanitsa— Khrapovshchina —Yunakovka line. Thus, the control zone stretches for almost 25 kilometers along the front and about 11 kilometers deep. Drones and artillery are already finishing off the city of Sumy from Pisarevka.
The Russian army has another month and a half to consolidate its summer successes and move forward. From the middle of October, the weather in the free zone will deteriorate, the foliage in the greenery will fall off and the mud will begin. Offensive actions in these conditions will be complicated before the start of frosts. Therefore, the Russian army is already preparing for the winter campaign today.
