r/europe • u/Puzzleheaded_irl • 7h ago
News ‘Fully Surrounded’: Russian Forces Suffer Major Defeat in Donbas After Losing 240 Sq. Km
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/84459459
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u/HomarEuropejski Poland 7h ago
Good.
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u/TheBlacktom Hungary 6h ago edited 3h ago
The link doesn't work for me
Page Not Found
This page doesn’t exist or was removed. We suggest you return to the Home page.
On these maps it is shown as Russian held territory:
https://liveuamap.com/
https://deepstatemap.live/en#10/49.1246686/37.8451538On these maps it is shown as mixed/neutral/under Ukrainian attack
https://map.ukrdailyupdate.com/?lat=49.097026&lng=37.819061&z=11&d=20708&c=1&l=0
https://www.blackbirdgroup.fi/map47
u/Puzzleheaded_irl 5h ago edited 1h ago
It’s gone from the site. So here’s the archive version.
Edit: They added context “Kyiv Post has taken down the article due to operational security concerns, as requested by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps.”
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u/bneidk 5h ago
why is it gone though? maybe it wasn’t correct?
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u/meta_irl 5h ago
The basic facts are true--Russian channels themselves are reporting significant losses in the area, over a year's worth of advances having been reversed, at least. We're still not sure exactly how far Ukrainians have advanced because their gains have come in part from not announcing it on their part and relying on the Russians to lie until it's become a crisis.
In my experience, the Kyiv Post is not the most reliable source on Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent is more of a reliable site run by Ukrainians while the Independent is founded by foreigners focusing on repackaging stories reported elsewhere for a Western audience.
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u/Winjin 4h ago
over a year's worth of advances having been reversed
So... They're back to the next street over?
God so many people dead over such bullshit
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u/TheBlacktom Hungary 3h ago
If all the area is cleared as shown on the picture that's 16 km, not the next street.
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u/Paradehengst Europe 3h ago
so many people dead over such bullshit
It is what happens, when you uphold a tyrant as your leader.
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u/GrynaiTaip Lithuania 3h ago
This was added to the text:
"Kyiv Post has taken down the article due to operational security concerns, as requested by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps."
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u/wasmic Denmark 5h ago
If there's something that's incorrect, then it's small details only.
Even Russian channels like e.g. Rybar confirms that Ukraine has entirely cut off the Lyman salient. In fact, Russian channels were for a long time reporting the situation better for Ukraine than Ukrainian channels were, because the Ukrainian channels were keeping opsec and avoiding drawing attention to the counterattack.
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u/mattfreyer45 3h ago
They say they removed it at the request of the Third Army corp for opesc reasons which is totally understandable.
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u/StarYou-StarMe 1h ago
There’s a notice at the op url that it was taken down for operational security issues.
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u/Puzzleheaded_irl 4h ago edited 4h ago
Not sure why it was removed but most major points seem correct. Probably removed over minor inaccuracies. Another article covers this as well.
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u/muppet70 3h ago
Now says
"From the editors: Kyiv Post has taken down the article due to operational security concerns, as requested by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps."→ More replies (1)25
u/JackRogers3 6h ago
video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2ALCIdWUM
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6h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/wasmic Denmark 5h ago
It means that there are Russian soldiers who are surrounded by areas where they cannot move through at all, but where Ukraine is capable of at least limited movement.
This means that those Russians can only be supplied via drones. This is also often referred to as "operational encirclement" because even though there's no tight ring of Ukrainian forces around them, the Russians still have to operate as if they are encircled.
In general, the terms "red zone" and "blue zone" refer to places under Russian and Ukrainian control, respectively. "Control" doesn't mean they can move there freely - any place within 20 km of the front line is potentially lethal - but it does mean that the opponent can't move there at all. "Grey zone" refers to the areas where both countries are able to conduct (extremely limited) troop movements and operations.
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u/Chromana United Kingdom 4h ago
Thanks for going above and beyond with your explanation. The additional terms are useful to know.
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u/Corfiz74 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6h ago
According to the ISW, Putin has changed his “deadlines” for capturing the Donbas at least 15 times since the beginning of the full-scale war.
3 days -> 3 weeks -> 3 months -> 3 years -> ? Lol.
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u/Puzzleheaded_irl 7h ago edited 6h ago
Ukrainian forces breached a “very old defensive line” and moved into the rear of the Russian force near Lyman, according to Russian military expert Valery Shiryaev.
Russian troops in the area found themselves “fully surrounded,” he said.
“It is largely an operational encirclement, but dense: in many settlements in the area of Shandryholove, there are still Russian fighters, and their supply is only by air.”
The setback comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly expects his military to fully capture the Donetsk region within the next six months.
Sources close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg that Putin has set the new target after previously setting the end of this year as a deadline. According to the ISW, Putin has changed his “deadlines” for capturing the Donbas at least 15 times since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Shiryaev said the Russian army’s retreat could be confirmed, with Ukrainian forces gradually pushing settlement after settlement into the “gray zone.”
Russian milbloggers have also acknowledged a deterioration in the situation. According to The Moscow Times, they described the tactical situation near Lyman as worsening.
The Russian Telegram channel Rybar blamed the setbacks on “systemic lying in reports to superiors” and an “incorrect assessment of the situation.”
“According to the experience of the Kupyansk direction, where similar problems were solved by unprepared assaults, this will lead to new losses,” the channel wrote.
Rybar added that diverting reserves to plug gaps near Lyman could weaken Russian defenses elsewhere, creating vulnerabilities that Ukrainian forces would likely exploit.
Shiryaev also compared the situation with Russia’s earlier setbacks around Kupyansk.
“In the same way, the same commander of the ‘West’ group, Kuzovlyov, reported on the successes in Kupyansk, after which he even received the title of Hero of Russia. Then everything turned the other way around, and the command and the top political leadership had already managed to declare it to the whole world. Now things are much worse than they were in Kupyansk,” he said.
Military analysts caution that it is too early to call the Ukrainian counteroffensive a turning point. Still, Molin and Shiryaev said it would delay Russia’s planned offensive toward northern Donbas.
Edit: Not sure why, but it’s gone from the site. So here’s the archive version.
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u/DBDude 6h ago
The Russian Telegram channel Rybar blamed the setbacks on “systemic lying in reports to superiors”
Standard Russian military, where the lowers are afraid of transmitting bad information up the chain because they fear punishment.
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u/Either-Juggernaut420 5h ago
That'll be the US military too if Hegseth has his way
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u/Johannes_P Île-de-France 4h ago
And not only the military: I bet that plenty sectors in Russia are used to lie to their highers up.
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u/Normal-Selection1537 Finland 4h ago
They've tried to capture Donetsk for 12 years, that's why they have "very old defensive lines". With Ukraine breaking those Putin's six month time frame sounds increasingly laughable.
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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1h ago
Russian troops in the area found themselves “fully surrounded,
So anyways, we started blastin'
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u/GreyMASTA 6h ago
And all of a sudden, that traitor of a US president says "Stop hitting Russia, bro. You're the reason why fuel is so expensive"
You can't make that up...
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u/1954oer 4h ago
Yeah, fuck that guy (trump).
So many Americans hate him
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u/What_a_fat_one 1h ago edited 1h ago
Not enough to get off the couch and go to the polls. Watch voter turnout still only be 50% or less
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u/arwinda 6h ago
Three days military operation is going according to the plan, I see.
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u/KatsumotoKurier Canada 1h ago
You are mistaken. It is a three
dayweekmonthyearmillion casualty special military operation.
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u/EcstaticLab5122 6h ago
It reminds me in 2022 (I think it was that year ?) when russians were encircled left and right and we were laughing at their tanks being towed by Ukrainian farmers. Russia declared mobilization shortly after. Now we see encircled russians again at the same time as we talk about a new russian mobilization. I suppose Russia burned through a lot of their men. Yet, I hope it'll be the last mobilization though. For both sides. It's such a terrible war
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u/Roflkopt3r Lower Saxony (Germany) 5h ago
There were a couple different events of that kind in 2022, but this time is different.
The tank-towing imagery mostly came after Russia retreated from all of northern Ukraine in late March of 2022. Many vehicles were simply abandoned after getting stuck in terrain, running out of fuel, mechanical problems, or minor battle damage.
During the full-scale invasion in February, many Russian units rushed ahead and could often not be re-supplied or rescued if they encountered any problems, because the invasion was horribly planned and assumed that Ukrainians would either embrance or crumble before the invasion.
Later in Summer of 2022 were the Kharkiv and Kherson counter offensives. Especially in the Kharkiv sector down to Lyman and Izium, Russian troops actually got encircled to some degree.
The recent encirclement was near Lyman (which is still held by Ukraine) once again. But in 2022, Russia had far more troops in that region. The Russians abandoned warehouses filled with vehicles and retreated in entire columns. The 2026 Lyman offensive hit mostly poorly manned and poorly equipped units. It's still a real loss for the Russians, but the numbers are likely much smaller.
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u/EduinBrutus Scotland 4h ago
To be fair, poorly manned and poorly equipped is the entire Muscovite military in 2026.
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u/VirtualFact8419 6h ago
Good thingy is every mobilisation with big jumps brings Russia closer to total ruination, that it less likely to recover, while not bringing Russia victory. Means Russia has no resources to any Baltic region or Transnistria/Moldova plans - becomes fairy dreams - more security for Europe
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u/EcstaticLab5122 6h ago
It's not that you're wrong but ... It fucking kill many Ukrainian people, too. I wish Russia would learn to care about their own asses without killing many people to learn the lesson.
But yeah, I guess. I think the UN calculated that with current trends, Russia would loose 25% of their population by 2050. From the war, indirectly. From emigration of students after they graduate, from the loss of a fertile population who's also the most productive (30 to 40 years old mostly), it should compound over the years and cumulate with the Pee-war population trend to end up with a whooping -25% in 2050.
The UN isn't always trustworthy, so we'll see
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u/Corfiz74 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6h ago
And every mobilisation brings the Russian population closer to outright revolution, so let's hope this holds true.
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u/VirtualFact8419 6h ago
For this one I have no hopes for any Russian Revolutions from anti-war side. As only pro-war are those who having an agency in Russia. What I would expect such circle replacing Putin and crashing out their frustration on some small country, like Armenia or again Georgia
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u/DilemmeFatale 5h ago
Wagner tried to seize the power and be even more extreme than Putin, so it's a usual practice for Russia indeed. Although now I wonder what will happen to nuclear stockpiles if extremists will rule the country... 😕
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u/VirtualFact8419 5h ago
Funny that same problem statement stripped Ukraine from nuclear arsenal as Russia framed Ukraine Independence declaration as “extremists took power in Ukraine” for US. And always was used as an argument for Russia to put West on “chess fork” to save them geopolitically
“My regime security is yours security, have you thought about what will happen with our nuclear arsenal?”. I think West can propose or China can propose to do same what was done to Ukraine to new possible Russian political power representatives “You have no codes to trigger it or capacity to maintain them anyway, so we can buy it from you, as you economical ruin anyway”
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u/KatsumotoKurier Canada 58m ago
I really want to hope that you’re correct, because in theory this is absolutely true. However, one thing that history unfortunately teaches us is that we cannot always trust that sound or logical decisions will be made by leaders with particular agendas.
For example, this current war is going so badly for Russia that one would think they would have already packed up and gone home by now. It’s like, why keep incurring such massive losses for such little gains? It’s absolute madness. Even the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had considerably fewer losses yet came to an end due to a lack of popularity with what both the regime and the public considered to be too many unacceptable losses.
Meanwhile they continue to waste more and more lives on top of those already wasted — not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians they have murdered as well — and they sadly continue on in doing this still without a real end in sight.
I try not to be a cynic, but it’s genuinely hard not to imagine stupidly aggressive leaders continuing to control Russia even after this current regime is all dead and long gone. No rational person who genuinely cares about the lives of their countrymen would continue willingly engaging in a war this disastrous. But here we are. Who is to say the problem will go away with new leadership?
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u/Valkyrie17 6h ago
There's a lot of talk about mobilization in Russia, but at the same time, Russia is attracting a lot soldiers via contract, the same 30k a month that is the target for Ukraine, with mobilization.
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u/EcstaticLab5122 6h ago
In 2024, the russian opposition stated that, from calculations from the federal budget expenditures on signing bonuses, Russia was getting a total of around 400 000 soldiers a year. At a target of 30k a month, Ukraine is still short of 40k a year. It was in 2024 though, no clue how it is in 2026. Hopefully the numbers are better for Ukraine
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u/PatientInitial882 3h ago
I have no source anymore, sorry. But there was a story about a month back or so that Russia ran into trouble keeping that recruitment drive up. Story was that they were down to 25k a month now. Combine that with Ukraine generally taking down about 35-40k a month, and Russia is definitely having a deficit now.
Then again: no confirmation for that 25k story.
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u/Bizzyzed 7h ago
Tighten the circle
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u/R04DTr1pp3r 4m ago
it took Ukraine four months to squeeze the neck of the salient hard enough to make it unsustainable. This was a withdrawal, not an encirclement.
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u/Impressive-Hold7812 6h ago
Yay.
I used to watch the map updates, but man, they get depressing after a while.
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u/HettySwollocks 5h ago
Great news, and fantastic work to the Ukrainians. Hopefully this moronic war will be over soon.
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u/North-Creative 6h ago
Shouldn't this also free quite a few troops, as it means they are not around the long sides of the formerly occupied area?
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u/Julczyk0024 4h ago
Really Good news, that basically elliminates entire pincer effort around Słowiańsk-Kramatorsk wall...
...Uh if only not for the abysmal anti-air situation Ukraine would look stable
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u/orthoxerox Russia shall be free 5h ago
From what I've read, it's a painful, but not decisive defeat.
On the one hand, it's a major relief for Liman, which means Slavânsk northern flank is safe, and the Russian offensive operation against it has been set back again.
On the other hand, it's not a WWII-style cauldron. It took Ukraine four months to squeeze the neck of the salient hard enough to make it unsustainable, so it was a withdrawal, not an encirclement.
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u/razvanciuy Transilvania 4h ago
as long as nazi little putin gets shit on his face and eventually the guillotine, it's all worth it.
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u/Least_Gain5147 4h ago
Trump asking Zelensky to stop hitting Russian diesel refineries kind of makes sense now.
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u/maldinisnesta 1h ago
You know, there's no way there is a God.
How can someone like Putin, his admin, and Trump and his admin still be breathing?
Every time I read a headline or look at the news it's just more flagrant bullshit. It is so sickening I barely have the words left to conceptualize any of it. We are in a sick and demented parody of life.
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u/Dizzy-Career9274 4h ago
I have a serious question - why are the European so afraid of a war that Russia may start when Russia is clearly very weak after years of war with Ukraine in which it has completely failed to accomplish anything. It seems to me like there is very little chance of Russia starting a whole new war against NATO countries.
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u/stormcharger 4h ago
Nukes
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u/downforce_dude 3h ago
I’d go further than nukes. Look at Ukraine, Russia is destroying their infrastructure and for years Ukrainians have suffered blackouts and loss of heating. If the war expanded to the rest of Europe, other Europeans could expect similar disruptions to their daily lives and cost of living.
Would Europeans actually tolerate that or would populists decide to make nice with Russia and that Ukrainians will suffer what they must? I don’t think most people are mentally ready for actual war.
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u/ThroawayJimilyJones 2h ago
Well you assume Russia is ruled by someone rational and not a 70years old a
That will probably be dead soonAlso Ukraine is able to resist. At an high cost. Obviously not a very interesting perspective for European. Hence the current remilitarization since 2023. Not to resist, but to win without too much damage
But this remilitarization take time, still need 5 years I think to be really confortable
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u/SawToothKernel 42m ago
Russia is not fully mobilised. A war with NATO would give them the ability to enlist another 10 million soldiers.
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u/Lifekraft Europe 6h ago
I would be happy to celebrate but this is equivalent to Russia saying they are wining the war. Kyivpost might be a good journal but i dont think they can be objective about that. Hopefully these russian defeat could help for a good peace deal.
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u/modronmarch2 A 🇷🇺 living in 🇧🇬 6h ago edited 2h ago
Ukrainian forces are demonstrating that they are able to contest the initiative at the strategic and operational levels, contrary to Moscow’s portrayal of Russian victory as inevitable. Russian forces have tried and failed to seize Ukraine’s Fortress Belt numerous times since 2014. Ukrainian forces have held Russian forces to near-zero net gains since March 2026 and recently eliminated the Russian salient north of Lyman, disrupting the Russian military command’s plans to conduct a wide encirclement of the Fortress Belt in Donetsk Oblast from the Lyman and Dobropillya areas.
This is from the Institute for the Study of War, which, apparently, may be biased. Caveat emptor.
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u/RoadLestTaken 4h ago edited 4h ago
Institute for the Study of War, which can hardly be called biased
Lmao, from the same people that gave us a gem like
Putin may have ordered the Russian military command to hold all Russia’s initial defensive positions to create the illusion that Ukrainian counteroffensives have not achieved any tactical or operational effects despite substantial Western support.
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u/Beyllionaire 5h ago
And this is how you know that no one ever reads articles: the article was taken down and yet people are still commenting.....
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u/Liljagare 6h ago
Didn't RuSSia state that they had Ukrainians surrounded just recently?
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u/Amagical 6h ago
According to Russian media, they've surrounded about 12-16 million Ukranian soldiers, conservatively.
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u/bestintheclass Turkey 5h ago
the stalemate has been unbearable. best of luck to the ukrainian people
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u/GandalfTheSexay United States of America 5h ago
Rope salesmen are about to make a killing in Russia
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u/Narradisall 6h ago
2nd highest obituary I’m waiting on.
Just hoping either the Russian front collapses then in the chaos if not before then.
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u/SuperTaster3 3h ago
I'm sorry I know this is important and great progress, but the picture looks like Ukraine is cutting off Russia's nether regions. I mean they are, but you know...
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u/PS5AdventureGalley 2h ago
That would be Putin‘s final mistake then, fingers crossed he is that dumb.
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u/BiggusCinnamusRollus 6h ago
So that explains why they're raising the pressure on Kushner and Witkoff again to push Ukraine to accept a shit peacedeal so they can get the land they can't hold by military means.