The final battle for Donbas’s small town of Velika Novosilka lasted six days, although the outcome was obvious much earlier, as The Economist notes. Things were critical at the beginning of the new year, when Russian troops occupied villages northeast and west of it, pressing Ukrainian soldiers on three sides.

By Thursday 23rd of the month, the narrow corridor had become impassable. The order to retreat as soon as the fog descended. It was a nightmare, under heaven full of drone and crossing a river. Elements from the triumphant Russian propaganda channels show that many were not able to escape.

Her little win Russia In Velika Novosilka (population just 5,000 before the war) was followed by the well -known motif: ruthless infantry attacks, catastrophic losses, collapse of Ukrainian defense and ultimately retreat.

The immediate focus on the units fighting there will probably shift back to Pokrovsk in the north, a much larger supply hub, in which Russia has been attacking in the last six months. The battles there have already pushed the Ukrainians to close a crucial mine that previously met the half needs of domestic metallurgy. The Russian forces are also promoted near the area where useful lithium deposits are located.

The Kremlin plan is probably dependent on where it can make quick progress. The at least target of the “Special Military Operation” (as the Kremlin reveals the Russian invasion of Ukraine) It seems that the occupation of the entire Donbas area (which includes the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk), the recovery of the control of the Russian Kursk region, which Ukraine has partially occupied, and the maintenance of the “land bridge”, is recovered. which occupied in the early stages of war and connects Crimea with Russia.

In Kursk, Russia has not yet recovered the initiative of movements, despite the fact that it has developed a force that, along with 62,000 North Korean soldiers, perhaps three times larger than the Ukrainian team. In Donbas, in the meantime, the expulsion of Ukraine from the remaining cities, which are well -designed, will not be easy. Open fields west of Pokrovsk and a psychological damaged promotion in the Dnipro region can prove to be more tempting. “They are looking for our weaknesses,” says Andriy Cherniak, an officer of military spy.

The modern battlefield, dominated by spy drones, watching and hitting goals, changes the nature of the battles. In Velika Novosilka, for example, armored vehicles played a minimum. “One of our battle tanks moved near the front lines,” says Captain Ivan Sekac, an Officer of the 110th Ukrainian Brigade, defending the city. “Ten drones attacked, blasting it almost immediately.” The battle was done by the infantry -small Russian groups of the three, four, five people, who were sent forward by waves. Most had a fast and bloody end. But some have managed to create new positions and convey the battle closer, forcing the Ukrainians to retreat.

Russian tactics cause many headaches in Ukraine. Simply put, Russia has the infantry and Ukraine does not. The problems of recruitment and desertion have hit Ukraine’s backups. “We find it difficult to replace the losses on the battlefield,” says Colonel Pavlo Fedosenko, commander of a Ukrainian regular team in Donbas. “They may be thrown by soldiers of a battalion in a position we have manned with four or five soldiers.”

The brigades that make up Donbas’ first line are consistently under -staffed, under pressure and collapse. The front line continues to retreat. “We no longer have a tactic beyond closing holes,” says Kupol, the pseudonym of a retirement commander, who until September was led by a brigade fighting in the eastern Donbas. “We throw battal into chaos and hope that we can somehow stop promoting the Russians.”

The attention of the world has turned to the negotiations that have not yet begun, the contradictory messages of the Trump government that one day looks positive for Ukraine and the next less … positive. As long as the front line continues to move, the Putin seems to have a few reasons to compromise. The Russians will not run out of weapons soon, says the Crusader Services Officer. “They have at least a year, possibly two, to continue to fight as they fight.”

The military-industrial complex remains a “sacred cow” for the Kremlin, added, and will be protected from possible economic opposite winds, inflation or sanctions. In the meantime, North Korea supplies lack of species, such as weapons barrels and artillery systems.

Three years after the start of warit is not yet clear whether Russia can turn its many regular profits into something bigger – enough to push deeper behind Ukraine’s weakened lines and cause real concern. Cerniak said that the data so far show that this is unlikely. “We see their stocks, their rockets, their equipment – and it’s not enough. Not yet. “