According to Ukrainian frontline news Russian troops are slowly but steadily gaining ground (machine translation):
Russian troops have occupied most of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.
This was reported by a Ukrainian fighter with the call sign “Flour”.
According to him, Russian units are already using most of the city to accumulate personnel, drones and firepower.
Only certain microdistricts at the northwestern entrance to the city remain under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or in the gray zone. At the same time, the line of contact continues to change rapidly.
Another noticeable advance, according to the military, was recorded in the Sloviansk direction. Russian units have established control over Yurkovka and continue fighting for Rai-Oleksandrivka (the Russian Federation claims that this village has already been captured).
At the same time, pressure is increasing in the Mykolaivka area, where Russian troops are trying to disrupt Ukrainian logistics with strikes on supply routes through Vysokoivanivka and on facilities in the area of the Slavyansk thermal power plant.
In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian forces, according to Muchnoy, occupied the Zaporizhzhia mine and advanced along the forest belts north of it. The situation in Rodinskoye is also complicated, where the northern part of the city was actually isolated.
At the same time, it is noted that Russian units are trying to turn this area into a local “bag”, controlling supply and movement routes with the help of drones and firepower.
The Ukrainian army is in its ever worst position. Moral is terrible, losses are high and the recruitment methods are getting more and more brutal.
The Ukrainian Commander in Chief General Syrski has long insisted on creating new ‘assault’ brigades instead of filling up the shrinking regular brigades which attempt to hold grounds.
A recent investigation by the Ukrainian outlet Babel reveals murder and torture in the recruit training camps of the 425th Assault Regiment Skala (Rock) (machine translation):
A battered head, torn hands, a chiseled lower back, dirty and broken fingers. In this state, 35-year-old Oleksandr Semenov came to the hospital in Kropyvnytskyi in January 2026. He said that he escaped from the 425th separate assault regiment “Rock”, where he was abused, beaten, tied to an ATV and dragged on the ground. In a video taken by local doctors, the man said that he witnessed at least nine suicides in the unit, briefly described their circumstances and named one of the dead. The video at Babel’s disposal was filmed on January 23, 2026, and a few days later, Oleksandr Semenov died in the hospital. The official cause of death is pneumonia.
“The Rock” is the largest assault regiment in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Unofficially, it is also called “Syrsky’s”. It is not part of any corps, but is directly subordinate to the high command. “The Rock” took part in the most difficult battles of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Despite this and combat merits, the regiment is often criticized by the military, journalists and relatives of those who got there. Due to accusations of heavy losses, the regiment has gained a reputation as “meat”. However, “The Rock” loses people not only on the battlefield, but even before combat — during military training – it counted 26 deaths. …
The newly recruited soldiers, snatched from the streets, are living in guarded tents. Going to the toilet is only allowed in groups and under the eyes of an armed soldier. Grounds around the training camp are mined. Torture is routine. People who try to flee will be shot and/or get brutalized to death.
Strana reports that the “Rock” is far from the only such unit.
The mass death of Ukrainian soldiers due to torture while in training is probably what the State Department considers as ‘winning’.
Russia has meanwhile initiated a new campaign against Ukrainian transport infrastructure and logistics. Targets are locomotives, truck depots, large post office warehouses (which run Ukraine’s military logistics), oil storage facilities and petrol stations of which more than 150 have been destroyed so far.
A refinery on the outskirts of Moscow got hit. By a drone. Drones carry relatively small payloads. Refineries are huge. Fuel tanks getting hit makes for an impressive fireball/smoke column which creates impressive pictures and videos for Ukraine's propaganda effort. But they are very easy to replace. The damage will be repaired within a week or two, just like it was the dozens of previous times Ukraine has hit Russian refineries. Russia's actual production has not been meaningfully affected, and Russia's oil revenues are higher than ever thanks to the Iran war.
No, there are not gas shortages all over Russia. There has been a gas shortage in Crimea for a couple of weeks because Ukraine hit the transportation infrastructure supplying it, precisely at the height of tourist season when lots of tourists flock to Crimea, not because they hit refineries. This isn't the first time Ukraine has caused shortages in Crimea, in fact the situation was worse before 2022. This does nothing to change the military dynamics just like it has never helped them before. Sooner or later Russia will adapt just like they always have. All it does is annoy the population and put pressure on the Kremlin to hit Ukraine even harder in return.
It also is very stupid of Ukraine to terrorize the civilian population in Crimea given how they constantly insist that Crimea is Ukrainian and occupied by Russia, because by that logic they are terrorizing Ukrainians under Russian occupation. Of course they know that Crimea is overwhelmingly Russian and always has been, which is why they take it out on them any time they are losing badly on the front lines. Which they currently are, hence the media PR campaign to distract and create the impression that they are "winning".
On the battlefield they have just lost two major fortified towns that were key to holding Russia back from the last parts of Donbass still under Ukrainian control. Their drone waves and missiles have been getting increasingly ineffective as Russia adapts and improves its air defenses. Ukraine's manpower shortages are getting worse by the day. The last infusion of cash they got from the EU has already run out and they have to beg for more billions yet again. Russia is now making new incursions and advances on secondary fronts outside the Donbass. Ukraine's much touted "counter-offensive" of this year (also mostly PR) has been completely rolled back.
And by the way, Russia has in response now started systematically taking out Ukrainian gas stations, which is actually causing shortages for the Ukraine military that often uses civilian vehicles to transport troops and equipment. Russia meanwhile has an abundance of diesel and overcapacity in refining it so they won't be running out any time soon from a couple of pinprick attacks on refineries. If i was Ukraine i would not play this game knowing that i am totally dependent on imports of fuel at a time when oil prices are spiking worldwide thanks to the US war on Iran. Russia is a producer and is never going to have a shortage regardless of the global oil situation, but the same cannot be said for Ukraine.