Ukraine has reinforced the defence of its eastern Donetsk region as Russia mounted renewed efforts to seize Sloviansk, a key part of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” of cities that include Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka. At the same time, Britain and France made a crucial decision to transfer Storm Shadow cruise missile technology to Kyiv, as Ukraine shifts its air defence strategy to destroying Russia’s means of ballistic missile production and launch, rather than intercepting the missiles individually. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Mykhailo Drapatyi made the first major decision of his new command on August 26 to reinforce two units defending Sloviansk.
Russia has also been infiltrating the fortress city of Kostiantynivka to the south of Sloviansk, but does not control it. Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets said Kyiv still maintains positions in central and northern Kostiantynivka. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 70-80 percent of Russian casualties were taking place on the Kostiantynivka front.
He estimated Russian losses this year at 267,000, including at least 155,000 killed. Russian commander-in-chief Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday that his troops were within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of Sloviansk. But maps published by Deep State and the Institute for the Study of War, which observe territorial changes through geo-located, open-source information, suggest Russian troops are between 12km (7.4 miles) and 16km (10 miles) of Sloviansk.
Ukraine is pressing a campaign to hobble the supply of Russian men, munitions and fuel to the front line by targeting storages, airfields and transport routes. It has been largely successful in bringing Russia to a standstill. The ISW estimated Russia has lost 27 square kilometres (10.4 square miles) in August, and at least 233sq km (90sq miles) this year.
On August 20, Ukraine destroyed 18 buildings storing aerial drones at the Primorsko-Akhtarsk airfield in Krasnodar Krai, just across the Sea of Azov from Crimea, and a Sukhoi-24 fighter at the Saky airfield in Crimea itself. Two days later, Ukraine’s unmanned systems destroyed a Sukhoi-33 fighter and a MiG-29 fighter at the Vityazevo airfield in Krasnodar, along with a strike and reconnaissance Orion drone. On the same day, they struck an oil trans-shipment terminal at Yeisk, in Krasnodar.
On August 24, Ukraine destroyed another MiG-29 at Millerovo airfield in Rostov. Ukraine also targeted and destroyed ballistic missile launchers and radar complexes. It has hit a dozen Russian military supply vessels, bringing the total number of ships disabled during the campaign to 242.
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