Piercing Ukraine’s defenses Russian forces make battlefield advances in Donbas as Trump prepares to meet with Putin in Alaska
Like our earlier reports on the combat situation in Ukraine, this article takes stock of the recent developments on the battlefield based on open-source information. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and our detailed military analyses are part of our commitment to objective reporting on a war we firmly oppose.
Our map is based exclusively on open-source photos and videos, most of them posted by eyewitnesses on social media. We collect available evidence and determine its geolocation markers, adding only the photos and videos that clear this process. Meduza doesn’t try to track the conflict in real time; the data reflected on the map are typically at least 48 hours old.
Key updates as of August 14, 2025
Reports from Ukrainian sources of a Russian “breakthrough” northeast of Pokrovsk have made clear to everyone what experts already knew: there are gaping holes in Ukraine’s defenses between Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, cities the Armed Forces are fighting hard to hold. As Russian troops advance along the entire front, the line of contact is lengthening — and such gaps are widening.
Still, despite the alarming reports, the “breakthrough” is likely a localized incursion by a relatively small number of Russian forces. The lack of visual evidence makes it impossible to determine the precise nature and scale of the attacks: not a single video has emerged from the area of the alleged fighting in several days, which is highly unusual for this war.
In any case, the Ukrainian command urgently needs to adjust its defensive strategy. Until now, it has sought to hold the partially encircled cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka. The priority going forward should be defending the Kramatorsk–Sloviansk agglomeration, which may require shortening the front line and building a new defensive line — meaning a gradual withdrawal of troops from the partial encirclements.
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Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and Dobropillia
Small Russian assault groups have entered the center of Pokrovsk, with numerous open-source videos showing low-intensity fighting in the city’s southern and central districts. On the Russian side, the clashes involve teams as small as two soldiers, while the Ukrainian side is relying mainly on kamikaze drones. Ukrainian infantry appears to be largely absent from the city.
Russian forces have also seized at least part of the town of Rodynske on the Pokrovsk–Dobropillia road, cutting Pokrovsk off from the main Ukrainian forces to the north. The only remaining fully functional supply route for troops in and around the city is now the Pokrovsk–Dnipro highway — and even that is under threat. It has long been within range of Russian drones, and in recent days, after months of relative calm, Russian troops southwest of Pokrovsk have resumed offensive operations, capturing part of the settlement of Udachne.
On the eastern — Kostiantynivka — section of the front, Russian forces have fully captured the villages of Yablunivka and Oleksandro-Kalynove, reached the Kleban-Bykske Reservoir, and cut a supply route for Ukrainian units still in the northwestern outskirts of Toretsk. At the same time, another Russian grouping is advancing toward the reservoir’s eastern end through Katerynivka, threatening to fully cut Ukrainian troops in Toretsk off from Kostiantynivka. Ukrainian forces are already using boats across the reservoir to deliver supplies.
At the same time, west of Kostiantynivka, Russian forces are pushing north from the village of Poltavka, threatening to bypass the city from the west and encircle it from the north.
These attacks have increasingly shifted the “centers of gravity” of Ukraine’s defense toward Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka. Between them, however, a gap has opened — and is widening — covered only by weak Ukrainian forces.
According to Ukrainian sources, relatively large Russian units have “slipped through” this gap between Rodynske and Poltavka. Several weeks ago, Ukrainian defenses near Zapovidne and Zatyshok were reportedly breached, allowing Russian troops to advance 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north, capture Kucheriv Yar and Zolotyi Kolodyaz, and reach the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway, coming close to the outskirts of Dobropillia itself.
There is no direct confirmation of such a breakthrough, only anecdotal evidence: Ukrainian volunteers say they were unable to evacuate residents from Zolotyi Kolodyaz because the village had been seized by Russian forces. Still, the Russians have not advanced farther; Ukrainian troops have released video from the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway showing no signs of fighting. Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed only the capture of Zapovidne and Zatyshok — and only on August 13. Ukraine’s military command says it has sent reserves to the site of the “breakthrough.”
The Russian forces in this sector are brigades from the 51st Guards Combined Arms Army (formerly the 1st Army Corps of the DNR’s “people’s militia”), whose numbers are clearly insufficient for an offensive on Dobropillia and Kramatorsk. There’s no indication that additional Russian reserves have been moved into the area. As a result, it’s doubtful that the offensive on Zolotyi Kolodyaz will prove a decisive operational episode in Russia’s campaign — let alone collapse Ukraine’s defenses on a strategic scale. Still, the long-term consequences of Ukraine’s weakness along the entire stretch from Pokrovsk to Kostiantynivka could be severe: Russian forces — even advancing slowly rather than in a single leap — could eventually reach Kramatorsk and begin an assault on the last major urban area in Donbas still under Ukrainian control.
Other parts of the front
Russian forces are continuing their offensive on the Kramatorsk–Sloviansk agglomeration not only from the south, but also from the east and north. In the east, Russian troops have reached the outskirts of Siversk. In the north, they are fighting for Shandryholove, near the city of Lyman, and on the southern outskirts of Torske. In the coming months, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will likely have to abandon their fortifications in the Kreminna forests (between Kreminna and Lyman), or even withdraw from Lyman to Sloviansk, on the southern bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.
One possible source of reserves for the Ukrainian command is the Sumy front, where Ukraine’s army has concentrated substantial forces — including assault regiments — in an effort to strike the western flank of Russia’s bridgehead and push its troops out of the Sumy region. After several weeks of fighting, Ukrainian forces have retaken Kindrativka and Andriivka. The Russian command, however, shows no sign of retreating, and has not even paused its offensive on the eastern flank, where Russian troops have advanced south of Yunakivka.
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Meduza’s Razbor (“Explainers”) team