Russia captures Ptyche, advances near eight other locations in Donetsk Oblast – DeepState

The Ukrainian General Staff reports repelling 56 Russian offensive and assault actions in the Pokrovsk direction on 26 August.
27/08/2024

Russian forces captured the settlement of Ptyche in Donetsk Oblast and advanced near several other locations, according to analysts from the DeepState project.

The project reports that Russian forces also made progress near Pishchane, Kalynove, Karlivka, Memryk, Krasnyi Yar, Mykhailivka, Pivnichne, and Novohrodivka.

Ukrainian General Staff reported at night that the situation was particularly challenging in the Pokrovsk direction.

Pokrovsk is a crucial logistical center for Ukrainian military operations in Donetsk Oblast. The city has an approximate population of 53,000.

According to the military, Ukraine repelled 56 Russian offensives and assaults in the areas of Kalynove, Vozdvyzhenka, Novooleksandrivka, Panteleimonivka, Zelene Pole, Myroliubivka, Hrodivka, Novohrodivka, Memryk, Mykhailivka, and Karlivka.

The General Staff also reported that Ukrainian defense forces repelled seven Russian assault actions in Spirne, Verkhnokamianske, and Vyimka on the Siversk front throughout 26 August.

According to Ukrainian officers, Russian troops tried to advance near Chasiv Yar four times.

The Toretsk direction remains tense, with the Russian army, supported by aviation, attempting to penetrate Ukrainian defenses 11 times on 26 August. The General Staff added that Russian attacks continue in the area of New York.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 22 August that “recently geolocated footage indicates that Russian forces recently captured Ptyche (southeast of Pokrovsk) and advanced further south.”

ISW analysts said that the Russian troops likely intended to advance west of the Karlivka Reservoir from Yasnobrodivka and Karlivka to encircle Ukrainian forces east of the Hrodivka-Novohrodivka-Selydove line but failed to achieve such success simultaneously with their advance south of the T-0511 highway.

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Russian advance towards Pokrovsk slowed down after Ukraine's Kursk incursion, Zelensky claims

Russian troops were advancing faster in the Pokrovsk sector before the Kursk operation started, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference on Aug. 27 in response to a question by the Kyiv Independent.

When asked by a Kyiv Independent reporter about the benefits of the Kursk incursion in regards to Russia's ongoing push toward Pokrovsk, Zelensky claimed that Moscow's advance had slowed down.

The Pokrovsk sector has been the scene of fierce fighting for several months and a focal point of Russia's offensive in Donetsk Oblast.

Zelensky said earlier that Pokrovsk, an important logistical hub for Ukrainian forces that supports their operations in the region, became Russia's main target after its Kharkiv Oblast offensive failed.

According to the crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState, Russian troops have been advancing towards Pokrovsk throughout the three weeks of the ongoing Kursk operation.


https://assets.kyivindependent.com/content/images/2024/08/image-7.pngThe estimated Russian advance in the Pokrovsk sector as of Aug. 6, 2024, when Ukraine launched its Kursk incursion. (DeepState/OpenStreet Map) https://assets.kyivindependent.com/content/images/2024/08/image-9.png The estimated Russian advance in the Pokrovsk sector as of Aug. 26, 2024. (DeepState/OpenStreet Map) On Aug. 15, the military administration of Pokrovsk called on residents to evacuate immediately, as the Russian army was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the town's outskirts.

Russian troops are not retreating and will continue to push on the embattled eastern sector, Zelensky said.

"They (Russia) need it, like the situation with Bakhmut. They will throw 50,000-60,000 people there. You will see it. You will understand these numbers very soon... There must be tricks. We are not bigger than Russia," the president said.

"At the peace summit, we should be in a strong situation. Of course, everything will end with a dialog. But we need to have strong positions for this dialog."

Previously, Zelensky said that the Kursk incursion into Russia is related to Ukraine's upcoming second peace summit and is one of "the stages to end the war."

One of the objectives of Kursk Oblast operation was to divert a significant number of Russian forces from other sectors, primarily from the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

Syrskyi said that Moscow has redeployed about 30,000 of its troops from other sectors to the Kursk direction, "and this number is growing." At the same time, Russia deployed its most combat-ready units in the Pokrovsk sector, he added.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Ignoring The Ukrainian Invasion Of Kursk, Russian Regiments Keep Their Eyes On A Major Ukrainian Prize—Pokrovsk

Russian troops are steadily marching toward a key Ukrainian logistical center.

If Ukrainian commanders were hoping their invasion of Russia’s Kursk Oblastbeginning three weeks ago would draw some of the best Russian regiments and brigades away from eastern Ukraine and relieve pressure on Ukrainian troops in the most vulnerable eastern sectors, they’re surely disappointed.

The Kremlin has left its eastern forces in place, for the most part—and reinforced Kursk with young and poorly trailed conscripts, instead.

And that means Russia’s eastern offensive, which kicked off last fall and widened around the New Year, has continued unimpeded through August. The consequences for Ukraine’s defensive campaign in the east have been dire.

In essence, Russia is trading Kursk for part of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine is trading part of the east for Kursk. Whether either tradeoff is worth it is a political question—and one without an easy answer for either side.

The drumbeat of recent Russian advances east of Pokrovsk, northwest of Donetsk, should sound like an alarm in Kyiv. On Friday, Russian infantry marched into Novohrodivka, seven miles east of Pokrovsk. Firing a rocket-propelled grenade, they knocked out a Ukrainian tank.

Pokrovsk sits astride the main Ukrainian supply lines west of Donetsk. After weeks of steady Russian gains, the city is in increasing danger.

Analysts anticipated this development. In late July, Frontelligence Insight—a Ukrainian analysis group—described the situation around Pokrovsk as “critical.” And that was before the Russians captured several more villages on the road to Pokrovsk including Orlivka and Mykolaivka.

Not even the Ukrainian army’s elite 47th Mechanized Brigade with its two dozen or so surviving M-1 Abrams tanks has been able to halt the Russian advance.

If there’s a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered defenders of Pokrovsk, it’s that Russian losses in the sector have been “heavy,” according to the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team.

And there are signs the losses are weighing on the Russian advance. “On the Pokrovsk direction, the enemy is beginning to experience resource shortages,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies noted. “The number of advance directions has decreased from seven to three in the space of two weeks.”

But even a slower, narrower Russian advance is still an advance—and Pokrovsk is at ever greater risk of falling. If that results in a wider collapse of Ukrainian defenses in the east, commanders in Kyiv may regret deploying a large force—potentially a dozen front-line battalions, each with up to 400 troops—to Kursk instead of reinforcing Pokrovsk.

‘I never worked for the Russians’ - punished by Kyiv for being a collaborator BBC


“I don’t deserve to be here at all” is a protestation you would expect to hear from someone in prison. But, as she sits in her maroon overalls, Tetyana Potapenko is adamant that she is not who the Ukrainian state says she is.

One year into a five-year sentence, she is one of 62 convicted collaborators in this prison, held in isolation from other inmates.

The prison is near Dnipro, about 300km (186 miles) from Tetyana’s home town of Lyman. Close to the front lines of the Donbas, Lyman was occupied for six months by Russia and liberated in 2022.

As we sit in the pink-walled room where inmates can phone home, Tetyana explains that she had been a neighbourhood volunteer for 15 years, liaising with local officials - but that carrying on those duties once the Russians arrived had cost her dearly.

Ukrainian prosecutors claimed she had illegally taken an official role with the occupiers, which included handing out relief supplies.

“Winter was over, people were out of food, someone had to advocate,” she says. “I could not leave those old people. I grew up among them.”