Russian troops gain ground in Donbass
The Russian Army has made further advances in the Donetsk People’s Republic by capturing the village of Andreevka, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Telegram on Thursday. The settlement is located to the south of the strategically important city of Chasov Yar.
The development came just a day after the same group of forces ‘South’ captured the village of Klescheevka some four kilometers to the north of Andreevka. The Ukrainian military had previously described Klescheevka as an important logistical hub, as it is located on high ground with an excellent view of nearby supply routes.
Kiev’s forces lost almost 500 servicemen in the area in the past 24 hours, the ministry said, adding that Russian troops had also destroyed a US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and a British-made L-119 105mm artillery system.
Moscow’s forces have been pressing their offensive in the area since early 2024 and have been steadily gaining ground in recent months. The city of Chasov Yar has become one of the focal points of the operation. Located on the Seversky Donets-Donbass Canal, the city is a linchpin of Ukraine’s defenses in the area. Its capture could open up a route for Russian forces to advance towards Slavyansk and Kramatorsk – the only two major cities in the Donetsk People’s Republic remaining under Kiev’s control.
Vadim Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, admitted earlier this month that it was “probably a matter of time” before Chasov Yar fell under Russian control.
In early May, Russian troops launched another major offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkov Region. The move came in response to repeated Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure in the Russian border regions.
Last week, President Vladimir Putin stated that the shelling of residential areas was pushing Moscow to create a buffer zone along the border with Ukraine. “If this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone. This is what we are doing,” he said at the time.
Over the past two weeks, the Russian military has captured more than a dozen settlements in Kharkov Region, pushing the front line away from the Russian border. In mid-May, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), Kirill Budanov, told the New York Times that the situation was “on the edge” and moving “toward critical” every hour.
The Ukrainian leadership has blamed a shortage of Western military assistance and the months-long delay in the appropriation of over $61 billion of Ukraine-related spending by the US Congress for a series of setbacks it suffered on the front lines. Moscow has repeatedly stated that no Western weapons can change the tide of battle.
Russia also repeatedly described the conflict as a Western proxy war, in which Ukrainian servicemen are being used as “cannon fodder.” The Russian Defense Ministry has estimated Kiev’s military casualties at over 111,000 this year alone, as of early May.
