GOOD NEWS from the Pokrovsky-Dobropilya direction.
Remember the alarm back in August 2025 when Russia surprised and made a bee line towards Dobropilya in the hopes of creating a northern pincer against Pokrovsk as well as drive a wedge between Pokrovsk and the rest of the Ukrainian “Fortress Belt” in Donetsk oblast?.
Well, today Ukrainian forces officially announced(via Lt. General Oleh Apostol, commander of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces) that the job of clearing out and stabilizing the Dobropilyia direction … that once-upon-a-time source of much angst and doomsaying, has been completed. The erstwhile Russian salient at Dobropilya is no more:
Operation on Dobropillia axis finished, Pokrovsk still holding, Ukrainian commander says
www.ukrinform.net/…
More Here:
Defense forces completed operation in Dobropillia direction and stabilized situation, - AAF Source:
censor.net/…
And Here:
The AFU completed the operation in the Dobropil direction — what are the results?
news.online.ua/…
I posted a couple of diaries earlier on about Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, General Syrskyi, seemingly urging his young theater commanders to end the Dobropilya salient as soon as possible. The resources could be then geared towards the coming big fight for Pokrovsk and Donetsk:
ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE Pushes the "Last Round Up", Kucheriv Yar Liberated. Many Z Prisoners
ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE. Sirskyi Huddles with his Young Commanders, Again. Something is Coming.
In so doing the Armed Forces of Ukraine believe they have now stabilized the Pokrovsky front and intend to set up to turn it into another stalwart “meat grinder” fortress against Russian forces as has been the case at Toretsk and more importantly at Chasiv Yar. It is worth recalling that Chasiv Yar(“Quiet Ravine” hardly what it is today), a suburb just six miles west of Bakhmut, has withstood all efforts by the Russians to capture it ever since the fall of Bakhmut on May 21, 2023 … more than two years ago. As General Apostol emphasized:
... fighting in urban conditions would significantly complicate the Russian offensive, as was the case in Toretsk and Chasiv Yar.
"He[the Russians] will be forced to engage in combat in Pokrovsk, which is analogous to Toretsk... Chasiv Yar is still holding out, so it will be difficult for them," the commander added. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3587723
The other big news is that the Ukrainians have also defeated Russian efforts to break through from the Dobropiliya direction towards Barvinkove, thus thwarting the Russian aim of cutting off the Donetsk region from next door Kharkiv oblast.
We haven’t heard much about Barvinkove but it sits at a very important strategic location.
Barvinkove, 76 miles as the crow flies northeast from Dobropiliya, is located in Kharkiv Oblast, near the administrative border with Donetsk Oblast and historically served as a strategic point between the two regions. It is part of Izyum Raion of Kharkiv Oblast. Memories of Mark Sumner’s many diaries on the Russian salient towards Izyum just before Syrskyi’s Kharkiv “Thunder Run” counteroffensive in 2022 put paid to that salient.
While Barvinkove itself is not a political or administrative boundary, its geographical position along the road and rail routes between Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts makes it a key location during military operations, particularly in the context of Russian advances toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two of the Ukrainian “Fortress Belt” cities. The town's proximity to the front lines and its role as a staging post for Ukrainian counteroffensives underscore its strategic significance in the war.
So in a week in which the news from Ukraine has been rather difficult, what with the Krasnov’-Witkoff shenanigans and the Energoatom bribery scandal costing President Zelenskyy his key aide, Andriy Yermak, ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE bucks the trend and launches operations to stabilize the situation around Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions despite ongoing enemy attacks whilst setting up to make it clear to the Russians that Ukrainian units will maintain control over key areas in Pokrovsk and that Pokvrosk will not be a cake walk for the Russians … expectation of heavy and intense urban combat to significantly hinder Russian advances, similar to the still-ongoing stalwart Ukrainian defense of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar.
SLAVA UKRAINI ! PEREMOHA(Victory)!!
