On the northeastern flank of Pokrovsk, Russian forces continued their assault on the city of Rodynske and have made significant progress towards capturing it.

Following the Ukrainian counterattacks in Chervonyi Lyman, the Russians began a series of counterattacks aimed at regaining control over their flanks. They re-secured the treeline positions southeast of the village and began pushing back into its western houses.

Once the village was back under their control, Russian soldiers advanced into the southern part of Rodynske, and began attacking towards the city centre. This was done in coordination with other forces capturing the rest of the high-rise buildings in the southeast of the city. Meanwhile, in the north of the Rodynske, Russian forces continued to clear the low-rise residential areas. As a result, the area under Ukrainian control is rapidly shrinking as they get squeezed out of the rest of the city centre and western suburbs.

+ ~3.85 km² in favour of Russia.

In the Dobropillya direction, Ukrainian and Russian forces have advanced over the last week, with the Ukrainians recapturing the village of Kucheriv Yar.

Before attacking Kucheriv Yar, Ukrainian forces cleared out the Russian DRGs who had infiltrated down the road to the southern outskirts of Zolotyi Kolodyaz. Once this was complete, they attacked down the gulley from Vesele to Kucheriv Yar, entering the village, establishing control over it, and taking POWs. They also secured the positions surrounding the village, including the gulley leading south from Hruzke.

To the southwest, Ukrainian forces were able to consolidate in the village of Vilne after repelling earlier Russian attacks, and recaptured positions in the forests to the northeast which the Russians were using as staging grounds and infantry accumulation points to attack Vilne.

In the east, Russian forces managed to enter Shakhove from the west, moving along the gulleys and forests. As of now, heavy fighting is ongoing towards the centre of this stronghold village, with the Russians attempting to consolidate further. Additionally, Russian forces advanced in Volodymyrivka, making new progress back towards the northern part of the village.

+ ~19.10 km² in favour of Ukraine.
+ ~3.77 km² in favour of Russia.

In the Kostyantynivka direction, Russian forces continued their assault on Pleshchiivka, and have made new advances inside the settlement.

After gaining a foothold in the southern part of the village, Russian forces continued their attacks further north under heavy drone and artillery cover. They were able to entrench and consolidate in denser residential areas in the western part of Pleshchiivka, before pushing north along the streets next to the railway line, capturing new positions there. Attacks are now underway on the centre of the village, where the grey zone is expanding.

+ ~0.18 km² in favour of Russia.

I keep seeing people bringing up this older post of mine as a "gotcha", so I'll address what I meant in it here:

This post was made in October 2024 when the last cohesive and layered Ukrainian defence line ran through the Pokrovsk area. The 9-12 months figure I provided was a timeline based on if, hypothetically, Russia kept advancing at the exact same rate which they were advancing at in October 2024.

It was not a prediction, but instead a post aimed at highlighting Ukraine's lack of defences in the Donbas, which was caused by them greatly underestimating Russia's capabilities following the fall of Avdiivka. Since that post, Ukraine has constructed many more defences further back, including more modernised and adapted fortifications which are more effective against drones.

Siversk general direction. Russian forces consolidate their positions and logistic routes near Soledar and behind the current front, Ukrainian drones aren't very active in their rear.
The red square represents frequent Russian shelling over the past days of a location with high Ukrainian infantry traffic. Many Ukrainian casualties were recorded because of this, but for some reason they keep using this exact route.

The Russians also entered Zvanivka yesterday, which could be related to the heavy shelling in that area.

In the Siversk direction, Russian forces resumed assault operations towards Siversk from the east, capturing new positions in the area of the reservoir.

Russian forces advanced west from the village of Verkhnokamyanske to the next treeline over, recapturing previously lost positions there, and along the road to Siversk. They were also able to secure the entirety of the southern bank of the reservoir, capturing the trenches in the forests there. Additionally, Russian forces recaptured the trenches northwest of the reservoir, advancing slightly closer to eastern Siversk.

+ ~2.54 km² in favour of Russia.

The first Russian soldiers have entered the easternmost parts of Lyman. The battle for the city has begun.

Russian forces have captured the city of Rodynske, northeastern flank of Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast.

Pre-war population: ~12,000.
Total land area: ~4.25 km².

2 explosions were heard in Kyiv from Iskander-M strikes.

Threat of Oreshnik IRBMs from Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan Oblast. This is most likely related to Russia's nuclear exercises, but sirens are now sounding in all regions of Ukraine.

The strikes on Kyiv targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure, likely the CHP-6 Power Plant.

The moment of one of the Iskander strikes on Kyiv.

The Oreshnik threat is confirmed to be from Russian tests. Sirens should be lifted in around 5-6 minutes.

Footage showing the second Russian Iskander-M striking Kyiv.

Now there's a UAV threat for Astrakhan Oblast.

Russia carried out additional long-range training over the northeast Pacific with their strategic bombers last night.

One Tu-95MS, escorted by two Su-35 fighters came close to the airspace of Sado Island, central Japan, forcing Japan to scramble fighters in response. The Russian MOD confirmed the incident, stating that they were escorted by fighters from a "foreign country" at one point.

Scheduled long-range training has delayed any future Russian large-scale, combined missile attacks on Ukraine involving strategic bombers, resulting in recent attacks all being carried out with missiles other than Kh-101s.