The battle for Pokrovsk Russia is closing in on a key city in the Donetsk region. Can Ukraine hold the line?
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 October 18, 2025
The Russian command has deployed large reserves to the battle near Pokrovsk. The offensive has resumed to the west and east of the city, as well as in its residential areas. At the same time, Russian forces have reached the outskirts of the nearby city of Kostiantynivka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) moved reserves to this area back in August and are now trying at all costs to contain the Russian advance. Without capturing both cities, Russia won’t be able to progress toward the Kramatorsk–Sloviansk agglomeration.
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Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka
Several Russian Marine brigades that had previously operated in the Kursk and Sumy regions have launched an offensive at the base of the so-called “Dobropillia breakthrough,” which was created by Russia’s 51st Guards Combined Arms Army back in August. This salient, located between the cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, is about 15 kilometers (about nine miles) deep and five to seven kilometers (three to four miles) wide. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been trying to eliminate it since August, relying on roads at its base — between Shakhove and Nove Shakhove — where Russian supply lines could potentially be disrupted.
The Russian Marines have likely been tasked with capturing Shakhove to remove this threat. They’ve chosen to employ a mechanized assault involving several armored columns — a tactic neither side has used in months, given how vulnerable armored vehicles have become to drones. Even when attackers manage to deploy troops and capture positions deep behind enemy lines, resupplying them later is extremely difficult for the same reason.
One of the assault columns broke into the village of Volodymyrivka southwest of Shakhove, while another reached the eastern outskirts of Shakhove itself. However, the attackers suffered heavy equipment losses. The outcome of the assault remains unclear: Ukrainian sources claim all troops in Volodymyrivka were destroyed and the attack on Shakhove failed completely, while Russian sources insist that their forces managed to gain a foothold in least part of Volodymyrivka.
Elsewhere along the front near Pokrovsk, Russian forces continue to rely on small assault groups for attacks. For instance, soldiers from the same 51st Army have entered the southern part of Rodynske, where Russian troops have been unsuccessfully trying to break through since August in an attempt to reach Pokrovsk’s northern exit and encircle the city. In Pokrovsk itself, Russian assault units have been spotted near the city’s western exit, along the highway to Dnipro.
Russian assault groups have also reached a fortified Ukrainian base at the massive coal mine that covers the city’s western approaches. Meanwhile, Russian troops advancing toward Kostiantynivka from the south (from the direction of Toretsk) and east (from Chasiv Yar) have pushed to the city’s southeastern outskirts. However, efforts to encircle the city — from the west, along the road to Pokrovsk, and from the east, from the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas canal north of Chasiv Yar — stalled months ago.
The Dnipropetrovsk region
The Russian command has completed a regrouping of its forces at the junction of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Units from the 41st Guards Combined Arms Army and the 90th Guards Tank Division, previously withdrawn from the Pokrovsk area, have returned to the front near Novopavlivka — a village that serves as a key supply route for the entire Ukrainian grouping southwest of Pokrovsk.
Russian troops are advancing on Novopavlivka from the northeast (along the Solena River), from the west, and from the south — via a newly established bridgehead on the Vovcha River near the villages of Filiya and Ivanivka.
The aforementioned deployment has allowed the “Vostok” contingent to narrow its offensive front, which had previously included operations along the Vovcha River. It’s now pushing strictly westward with two operational groups: one trying to advance as deep as possible into the Dnipropetrovsk region, heading in the general direction of Pokrovske, and the other seeking to cut off the city of Hulyaipole, which is located to the south of Pokrovske in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Under pressure from Russian forces, Ukrainian troops defending the eastern approaches to Hulyaipole have abandoned a large area and withdrawn across the Yanchur River. The Ukrainian command will likely attempt to establish a new defensive line along this river.
Other sectors
Ukrainian forces have regained control of most of the village of Oleksiivka in the Sumy region after several months of intense fighting.
At the same time, Russian troops have reached the center of Kupyansk, where battles are underway for the main administrative buildings. However, Ukrainian forces continue to hold the city’s eastern half on the left bank of the Oskil River, despite relentless Russian airstrikes targeting the pontoon and makeshift crossings the Ukrainian military built south of Kupyansk.
Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to push Ukrainian troops from the northern bank of the Siverskyi Donets River and from the city of Lyman. Two Russian assault groups are advancing toward the river — one from the west, through Shandryholove and Novoselivka, and the other from the east, through Yampil.
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Meduza’s Razbor (“Explainers”) team