The situation at a glance: Ukrainian front in Donbass is crumbling

Under the pressure of constant Russian attacks, the situation for the defenders in eastern Ukraine is becoming increasingly difficult. In its latest situation report, the Ukrainian General Staff spoke of 142 Russian attacks on Sunday alone. For all sectors of the front it was said across the board that the attacks had been repelled. Nevertheless, according to unofficial front-line observers, Russian troops appear to have captured several small towns in the past few days. A Russian military blog wrote about the collapse of the Ukrainian front in the south of the Donetsk region. However, the information provided by both warring parties is difficult to verify.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a large-scale Russian invasion for more than two and a half years. Most recently, after another week of Russian air strikes, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj once again asked Western allies for help with anti-aircraft defense. In the last week alone there were more than 1,100 attacks with glide bombs and more than 560 drone attacks, he wrote in the short message service X. The Russians also fired around 20 rockets and cruise missiles. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, several swarms of Russian combat drones again threatened Ukraine on Monday night.

Danger for the south of the Donetsk region

In the south of the Donbass coal and industrial region, the Ukrainian front has held firm practically since the start of the 2022 invasion. This year, however, first the city of Avdiivka was lost near the large city of Donetsk, and later also Vuhledar. Since then, the exhausted Ukrainian troops have failed to halt the Russian advance, even though the Russians have suffered heavy casualties. The cities of Kurakhivka and Kurachowe as well as Pokrowsk further to the north are now considered particularly threatened.

The complete conquest of the Ukrainian administrative region of Donetsk is a declared war goal of the Kremlin. The area was annexed to Russia in 2022, even if it was not fully occupied. If the last industrial cities in the Donbass fall, an open and difficult to defend steppe will open to the west up to the Dnipro river. The major Ukrainian cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia are located there.

Kremlin leader Putin warns against attacks on Russia

Ukraine’s air defense reported 80 Russian drone attacks on Sunday alone. They were repelled. But his country needs help to protect its people, warned Zelensky and published another video of the destruction in his country. Ukraine has been asking for months to be allowed to use long-range foreign weapons against military targets in the Russian hinterland.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who ordered the war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, once again warned the West against releasing long-range weapons for such attacks. Because Ukraine cannot carry out such attacks without the help of officers and satellite data from NATO countries, Russia will see this as Western participation in the war, he said in a television interview. The Russian Defense Ministry is creating various response scenarios in this case, Putin said. He didn’t give any details.

Zelenskyj travels to visit friends in Northern Europe

Before a trip to the Nordic Council, Zelensky emphasized the importance of support from the countries of northern Europe. “You all equally understand the importance of taking decisive action,” the president said in a video message. “They understand that we have to create problems for the aggressor so that Russia loses the opportunity to disrupt life in the world.”

Zelensky is expected to attend a meeting of the Nordic Council in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik next Tuesday (October 29), the council said. The president said he wanted to talk to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland about how to increase military and diplomatic pressure on Russia.

Denmark, Finland and Sweden, as well as the Baltic states, support Ukraine more than Germany in relation to its economic power, according to data from the University of Kiel. The Nordic countries also show less political consideration for Moscow than Berlin. Denmark, for example, invests directly in Ukrainian defense companies.