For the first time in months, Russia 🇷🇺 launched tanks and armoured vehicles in Ukraine 🇺🇦
2 years after the large scale Avdiivka offensive, russian forces tried to storm the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka area of the frontline, losing around 30 armoured vehicles.
🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️
The main use of tanks, IFV and AFV was during the Avdiivka-Donestk offensive, mainly between october 2023 and may 2024.
Then, it was slowly abandonned. Since the first months of 2025, the use of armoured vehicles nearly disappeared.
Why ?
Because Russia was slowly lacking reserves in armoured vehicles and drone warfare was making their use more and more dangerous.
Most of them have been put away from the front during months and endured some changes.
Now that the summer is finishing, the roads are getting more and more muddy.
It is thus impossible to do assaults with motorcycles and ladas while assaulting on foots without cover is increasingly dangerous. This is the main reason for this come back.
On these long videos published by ukrainian forces we can see columns of armoured vehicles and tanks assaulting ukrainian positions near Pokrovsk.
For 2 months, russians have had difficulties to reach Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, mainly failing to take strongholds.
One of the assaults was trying to reach Myrnohrad, especially taking control over the mine west of the city, a ukrainian stronghold. They lost 4 vehicles here.
Another axis was the Kostiantynivka-Pokrovsk highway. In this area, multiple russian columns have been destroyed in the previous months, one of the only one where they continued to send tanks and armoured vehicles.
However, the main assaulted direction is the village of Shakove, a ukrainian stronghold.
Russia launched multiple armoured vehicles, hundreds of soldiers and motorcycles here to break the ukrainian defenses. Shakove is protecting the whole direction.
Despite multiple assaults on Volodymyrivka, just south of Shakove, the russians still didn't managed to take it.
Now, it is mainly a grey zone and tens of soldiers have been brought here, they will probably try to gain a strong foothold here and in Shakove.
Using armoured vehicles is somewhat new this year, it is also the result of months of reinforcements.
At 0:25 there is an interesting footage. You can see that the ditch forces the BTR to use the road, which has been mined. That's how dtches should be used.
The importance of fortifications : to reach Shakove from the main assault route, they need to stay on this road (because of the 6 anti-tank obstacles).
-> it concentrates the ukrainian fire on a single road.
And it's exactly the same with infantry and barbed wire :
They need to walk in the only zones where there are no barbed wire. Here, we can see a recent picture and a 1 month old one (Novotoretsk'e).
What is happening near Pokrovsk ?
The grey zone is increasingly big, it is getting more and more difficult to consolidate any progress. Pokrovsk is still safe, fightings are ongoing in Rodynske and Udachne, while some infiltrations are ongoing in the south of the city.
The main objectif for russian forces now is to expand the Dobropilla bridgehead, by taking Shakove. Then, they will be able to connect again with their isolated troops north-west.
They will also try to consolidate gains near Myrnohrad.
In one month, the tree cover will have disapeared, preventing infantry infiltration. The weather may affect drones, which is also important to remember.
Thus, Russia has to reach (and consolidate around) Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka before the winter to assault it.
I finish this thread with the wide preparation of new defensive lines, especially away from Donbass region.
Main new lines :
-Pavlohrad-Novomykholaivka
-Vilniansk-Zaporijia
-3rd Donbass line (behind Kramatorsk)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
As a reminder, in February, the Ukrainian army conducted a discreet offensive for several weeks, clearing infiltrated areas, securing Pokrovsk'e and infiltrating areas that were previously under Russian control.
This counter-attack notably secured Ternuvat and prevented the use of Uspenivka to launch assaults on the Zaporizhzhia front.
This significantly slowed the Russian advance, reducing its length from 42 km to 25 km (west of Hulialpole).
In southern Ukraine 🇺🇦, Russian 🇷🇺 forces continue their offensive from Hulialpole to Orikhiv, a strategic town
I mapped more than 1 400 Russian airstrikes, supporting multiple offensive axes in May, while Ukraine nearly finished its fortifications.
🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️
In May 2026, Russia conducted 7 486 airstrikes, I managed to locate 52% of those.
18% of those strikes are targeting ukrainian positions near Hulialpole. We can add as well 6% of related airstrikes in Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia areas.
These airstrikes have a very surprising precision (much more than elsewhere on the front), primarily targeting treelines and villages, where soldiers and drone teams are hiding.