Russian troops advance towards Dobropillia-Kramatorsk road – DeepState
DeepState, a Ukrainian group of military analysts, has reported that Russian troops have intensified their advance in the direction of Dobropillia in recent days, particularly with regard to their attempts to gain a foothold near the Dobropillia-Kramatorsk road.
Source: DeepState
Details: DeepState reported that the Russians, who benefit from a greater number of infantry, have entered the settlements of Kucheriv Yar and Zolotyi Kolodiaz, where they are building up forces for a further offensive. The Russians have advanced from Kucheriv Yar to the village of Vesele, where about 20 Russian servicemen have been spotted over the past day.
Meanwhile, Russian units are attempting to advance in the area of Novovodiane and Petrivka, looking for weak points in the defence so that they can reach the Dobropillia-Kramatorsk road.
Quote: "The situation is fairly chaotic because the enemy, having found gaps in the defence, is moving deeper, trying to quickly gain a foothold and amassing troops in order to advance further, while some people in the command of a particular brigade either don't understand the extent of the problem or are presenting the situation as ‘under control', in that ‘they've all been killed, they've all been repelled'. But the soldiers who are actually holding the line and trying to understand what's going on don't agree."
More details: New engineering and fortification structures have been erected in the area of Zolotyi Kolodiaz, Shakhove and neighbouring settlements, but soldiers say the enemy could bypass them and use them for their own defence.
DeepState warns that if the Russians gain a foothold in the captured villages and the offensive continues, there is a risk of Dobropillia falling sooner than Pokrovsk.
Quote: "The enemy already has pre-determined endpoints to reach, and today they are carrying out their plans, attempting to fully occupy Zolotyi Kolodiaz, Kucheriv Yar, Vesele and other settlements. After they finally gain a foothold and amass forces, they will make attempts to move deep into the territory, and they will also deploy drone crews, which will make it harder for the defence forces to restructure alternative logistics and hold the surrounding positions. Given this development, unless things change, we could be looking at the possibility of Dobropillia falling sooner than Pokrovsk."
Updated: Later, the Dnipro Operational Strategic Group reported that in this sector the Russians are trying to infiltrate in small groups past the first line of Ukrainian positions. They called on people "not to spread information from unverified or poorly informed sources".
Quote: "The infiltration of such groups, while requiring the deployment of reserves to destroy them, does not constitute 'taking control of territory'. A lack of understanding of this has repeatedly led to mistakes in analysing the situation and in public discussions in the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad agglomeration area.
Undoubtedly, the situation is and remains difficult, and the fighting in this area is the most intense compared with other sectors of the line of contact. Nevertheless, Ukrainian forces are making maximum efforts to ensure that even those Russian groups which have managed to infiltrate through the first line are destroyed in the shortest possible time."
Why this matters: The expansion of the salient created by Russian forces along the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka road and extended north to Zolotyi Kolodiaz and Novovodiane effectively means the final loss of this route. It was the main transport artery between the cities until June 2025, but it was closed following large-scale Russian drone attacks on civilian and military transport.
In addition, this salient poses a serious threat to Dobropillia, a large city around which an eastern pincer is forming to encircle the city, as well as to the still-passable roads leading to it. Due to the rapid advance of Russian forces, the distance to one of the key roads has been reduced to 10 kilometres, which, given the active use of FPV drones, represents a significant danger.
Previously: On 11 August, DeepState reported that the Russians have occupied the village of Zatyshok in the Pokrovsk district of Donetsk Oblast and have advanced near four other settlements in the area.
Background:
- On 29 July, a company commander operating on the Pokrovsk front told Ukrainska Pravda, as did other sources familiar with the situation in the area, that the Russian salient along the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka road is rapidly extending northwards towards Dobropillia, posing a threat of encirclement of Ukrainian forces near Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. The military were calling for the high command to pay attention to this.
- In May 2025, Russian forces broke through past the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka road in the area of Malynivka-Nova Poltavka-Novooleynivka and created a dangerous salient, which is over 10 kilometres long and roughly the same in width. It lies equidistant from Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, posing the risk of a Russian advance on both cities at once. As of 11 August, the length of this salient stands at 23 kilometres.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!