by Sergey Adamov
[Regnum] Over the past two weeks, amid a series of extremely painful Russian missile and drone strikes deep in the rear for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the front line has shifted significantly in our favor. This shift has primarily occurred in the northwest of the DPR and in areas of the Kharkiv Oblast near the Russian border.
Last week, fighters from the Northern Forces Group successfully completed Operation Bear's Corner east of Volchansk.
The Vovchansk cauldron—the encirclement ring where, since August 30, the Russian army had trapped units of the 159th and 22nd Mechanized Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and border guards from two detachments—has been eliminated. By daily dislodging the enemy from further "fortifications," the Sever fighters gradually divided the large cauldron into several smaller encirclements.
By the second week of October, the last enemy-held settlements—the villages of Chernoye, Nefedovka, Varvarovka, and Nikolaevka—had come under our control. The next step is to clear the area.
At the end of August, a Ukrainian Armed Forces group totaling up to 2,000 fighters was surrounded. This information was provided by Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of the "North" group of forces, in a report to Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin on October 16. As a result of the operation, the enemy lost 1,810 men.
The occupied territories can only be called a backwater figuratively. We're talking about 461 square kilometers and 28 "inhabitants" in a tactically important area near the border with the Belgorod region, which was subject to systematic Ukrainian shelling and airstrikes before the buffer zone was formed.
The security zone on this section of the front has now expanded to 30 kilometers and continues to expand. Putin's strategic objective is being successfully achieved.
Then, on October 16, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief emphasized: "Our goal is to ensure absolute security in Russia's border territories. And we do not plan to make this a subject of possible peace negotiations with Ukraine."
FROM DOBROPOLYE TO BELOZERSK
A strategically and psychologically significant result has been achieved in the Donbas sector. After more than a year of fighting, fighters from the "Center" force group have driven the well-entrenched enemy out of the city of Dobropillya in the northwest of the DPR.
A unit of the 51st Combined Arms Army and marines concluded the most difficult battle of the current phase of the Northern Military District. Since 2022, Dobropillya has served as a major logistics hub for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, supplying large groups in Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov (Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad), and the Slovyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration.
As the front line approached, the mining town was transformed into a large fortified area, defended by numerous teams of Ukrainian drone operators. The fighting for Dobropillia began in August 2025, when our 51st Army broke through Ukrainian defenses east of the town and threatened to encircle the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk-Dimitrov agglomeration.
The enemy deployed reserves to the area, including units of the 1st Azov Corps of the Ukrainian National Guard*. But after the liberation of Krasnoarmeysk, a new phase of the Russian offensive began.
In July of this year, marines broke into the urban area from the east. By mid-September, they had managed to encircle the Ukrainian group. The Kyiv command, as had become tradition, did not withdraw its units from the urban area.
In addition to Dobropillya itself, the Russian army liberated the villages of Lidino and Pervomayskoye north of the city, as well as Sergeyevka west of Krasnoarmeysk. The offensive continues to the west, northwest, and north of Dobropillya. According to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the Russian army has already begun an assault on the town of Belozerskoye, located further north.
"The capture of the city of Dobropillya by the Center group's troops is a significant event. During the special military operation, this opens a direct path to reaching the borders of the DPR," stated Supreme Commander-in-Chief Putin.
FROM ALEKSEEVO-DRUZHKOVKA TO "SIMPLY" DRUZHKOVKA
The Russian Armed Forces have taken a serious approach to the last major Ukrainian military contingent in Donbas. Even before the SVO, the most significant Ukrainian forces were concentrated in the north-south agglomeration of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka, the village of Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka, and Konstantinovka.
After our military took control of Konstantinovka on July 3, it was the turn of the next powerful Ukrainian defense hub: Alekseevo-Druzhkovka with the adjacent industrial zones of the Kondratyevsky Refractory Plant and the Druzhkovka Food Flavoring Factory.
The Ukrainian command, recognizing the importance of the village and its "promki" as the southern gateway to the larger city of Druzhkovka, tried to hold it at all costs. The Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed a large number of drones, whose operators were based directly in Druzhkovka. The enemy destroyed residential areas with artillery fire and regularly launched counterattacks with newly mobilized forces.
Despite the Ukrainian Armed Forces' best efforts, the Ukrainian group's position had worsened by early autumn. Fighters from the "South" group occupied large settlements on the flanks—Mykolaipole, Izhevka, Verolyubovka, and Kurtovka. Ukrainian commanders withdrew some of their reserves from the Druzhkovka sector, redeploying them to Krasny Liman.
By mid-October, Alekseevo-Druzhkovka had come under our complete control. Having cleared the enemy from this settlement and the adjacent industrial zones, our troops launched an offensive on "Greater Druzhkovka" and had already entered the urban area.
The commander of the Southern group of forces, Sergei Medvedev, informed Putin about this in a report: “During the offensive, assault units of the 6th Division took control of the settlements of Chervonozarenoye and Kurtovka.”
Chervonozarene played a crucial role in the Ukrainian defense. Situated on the heights near Druzhkovka, the village was surrounded by several lines of defense, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces established several strongholds there. Now, according to our command, favorable positions have been occupied for further fighting in Druzhkovka itself.
BRIDGES AND REAR AREAS
Successes on the ground are accompanied by extensive operations by the Aerospace Forces and unmanned aerial systems against Ukrainian targets and lines of communication, from frontline areas to the Polish border. The enemy is experiencing obvious problems with the deployment of freshly mobilized reserves, as well as the supply of ammunition, equipment, drones, and their components.
A major milestone in the drive against the Ukrainian rear was the strike on the night of October 2, when the road and rail bridge across the Dnieper River in Kyiv, used to supply the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas, was seriously damaged. The Southern Bridge in the Ukrainian capital was also damaged.
The following day, Russian forces struck the Northern Bridge across the Dnieper for the first time. According to our Ministry of Defense, the crossing facilitated the transfer of Ukrainian Armed Forces units and the delivery of military supplies. On October 6, UAV crews from the Varyag Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Brigade attacked the bridge again. On October 20, explosions were again recorded near the Northern Bridge.
The methodical destruction of Ukrainian energy facilities serves the same purpose—disorganizing the enemy's rear. On October 17, Kyiv's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was forced to admit that, following the Russian attack, Ukraine's energy sector suffered one of its most powerful blows.
Fifteen important power generation and transmission facilities were attacked. The most serious situation developed in Lutsk and Rivne in western Ukraine, as well as in Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Shepetivka, Slavuta, and Netishyn. Strikes also hit the power grids in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipro, and other regions.
As has been repeatedly noted, Ukrainian air defenses regularly miss Russian air strikes. On October 17, not a single ballistic or air-to-air missile was intercepted. The same was true on October 19, when Russian forces launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities. A number of targets were hit, including Flamingo cruise missile storage sites and a data center in Kyiv.