Brief Frontline Report – May 27, 2025

Report by Marat Khairullin with illustrations by Mikhail Popov.

Pokrovsk-Konstantinovka Direction

ЛБС 02.5.2025=Line of Combat Contact May 2nd, 2025. Зона Активности=Zone of Activity.

Building on their success along the demarcation line of the Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka sectors in the Donetsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces have liberated the settlement of Staraya Nikolaevka. The nearby settlement of Gnatovka is under the control of our units, and clearing operations are underway.

The frontline in this sector is now almost straight, running through Leonidovka - Romanovka - Alexandropol.

We can anticipate the following actions by the Russian Armed Forces:
While pinning down the enemy’s main forces along the Popov Yar - Shevchenko 1 line, the primary axis of advance will remain Romanovka - Alexandro-Kalinovo (Alexandro-Kalinovo is one settlement, btw*). The objective is to exploit the retreating enemy’s momentum, advancing onto the left flank of their third defensive line while our right flank moves through the Sukhaya Balka to the rear of the Shcherbinovka defensive area. It is time to untangle the "Dzerzhinsky (Toretsk) Knot."

The secondary (supporting) axis will be Novoolenovka - Rusin Yar, with a flanking strike toward Yablonovka to pressure the right flank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' third defensive line (Alexandro-Kalinovo - Yablonovka).

If the enemy begins active countermeasures by deploying reserves from the Rodinskoye - Vladimirovka - Popov Yar area, our pressure will likely intensify in the Promin, Mirolyubovka, and Malinovka sectors.

Zaporozhye Direction

ЛБС 03.3.2025=Line of Combat Contact March 3rd, 2025. Активность=Activity.

The Zaporozhye direction is heating up.

Russian Armed Forces units have advanced in the Nesteryanka, Kopani, Rabotino, and Belogorye sectors. The general objective there is the city of Orekhovo. The immediate task is to secure the areas covering the city: Malaya Tokmachka, Novodanilovka, and Novoandreevka.

Based on observations of the Russian Armed Forces' actions, we can assume there will be no direct assault on the city. Instead, an encirclement is likely, with flank clearing operations and drawing Ukrainian reserves away from other sectors (possible diversionary maneuvers may occur on the right flank).

A gradual tightening of the "noose" around the city will follow, cutting off supply routes. All major cities must "fall from the branch like ripe fruit" on their own. Such is the modern operational art of the Russian General Staff.