Clément Molin Profile picture
Mar 23 20 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Since the start of the year, Ukraine 🇺🇦 dug more than 1 250 km of defenses in the rear areas of the frontline

The "kill zone grid" around the New Donbas Line is quickly expanding. Here is what you need to know and a detailed geographic analysis :

🧵THREAD🧵1/20 ⬇️Image
This is the small town of Shakhtarske in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

You can see one line 5km east of the town, a second one 1km east, which is a ring, going all around, protecting it on all flanks, which will allow it to be a strongpoint. Image
In the south first, you can see here the new fortifications built this year in red. Ukrainian counter-attacks near Pokrovsk'e allowed them to reorganize the defenses of Pokrovsk'e and Novomykolaivka, both of which are now fortified strongholds. Image
Here, you can see in yellow the New Donbass lines finished version and in orange where the construction/upgrade is ongoing. Image
Here near Novomykolaivka, we can see the construction direction, one east, in the direction of Ternuvate and one south.

The current absence of tree cover allows to see individual positions hidden in the woods (for drone teams and infantry). Image
The next map is for the central part of the frontline, from the Vovocha river to Pavlohrad.

In this direction, 4 lines are under construction/improvement and 4 ring defenses are under preparation for Pokrovsk'e, Vassylkivka, Pavlohrad and Shakhtarske. Image
With the colors, we can see how extended the defensive grid is. Lines are interconnected and construction ongoing on 5 different lines if we include the Pavlohrad ring.

If you zoom, you can see how the main towns are perfectly fitting into these lines. Image
This satellite image from today is showing the ongoing construction of a ring defense for Vassylkivka.

The construction started only few weeks ago and nearly half has been done. Image
Here are all the current and under construction lines. These are only the ones which are with 2-3 ditches as well as 2-3 rows of barbed wire... Image
Now for the central part of Donbas. The construction of alone ditches continue all around Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, while the New Donbass lines behind are expanding.

Two new lines behind Dobropilla as well, one around Barvinkove. Image
With the colors, we can see fewer lines under construction mainly because this was the priority before and the main lines are now finished. Pavlorhad and Zaporijjia are the priorities now. Image
Here are some images from today to show how the construction is going and to see that we can see this very easily with satellite images. Image
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Image
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Another area where there is some construction, the Oskil and Izium.

This is clearly a secondary area, mainly because the first line here is the Oskil river and it is largely enough to hold the future offensives. Image
Furthur to the north, we can see new fortifications all around Kharkiv and east of the Donets river, around Veliky Burluk. A ring defensive line is also being prepared around Chuhuiv. Image
With the colors, we can see that the missing lines are being completed. This is highly secondary and not a priority. Image
In the northern regions, fortifications are also under preparation, mainly on a second line far from the border, as well as around Chernihiv. Image
To understand how deep the fortifications are going, this is Dnipro, more than 110km from the frontline. Image
Image
Fortifications are a very important trend to follow if you want to understand both the defensive dynamic of Ukraine and the offensive dynamic of Russia.

Here is white are the main cities and towns, all surrounded by defenses. Image
Thanks for following this thread. I will probably try to map again the russian airstrikes, since we can see them again.

I will probably start with march this year since an intense preparation started. Image
I finish by sharing this good new tool that is very useful.
Thank you all !

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More from @clement_molin

May 29
Since the year started, Ukraine 🇺🇦 launched more than 1 000 mid-range drone strikes (only geolocated ones).

The intensification of strikes against russian 🇷🇺 logistics (150 vehicles, 30 trains, 400 warehouses) is a real game-changer in the war.

🧵THREAD🧵1/24 ⬇️Image
The ukrainian mid-range drone strike is quite recent. It started at the end of last year and quickly intensified in 2026.

Ukraine is using :
🔹Big fixed wings drones : FP-1/2
🔹Small fixed wings drones : Hornet/Bulava/RAM X...
🔹Short/Long range FPV.

Here 2 Hornet on a truck :
In total, I gathered more than 1 000 geolocations since january 2026 (sources provided at the end of the thread).

35% of the strikes hit depots and warehouses (we don't know what is inside most of the time). 20% hit vehicles and 7% hit air-defense. Image
Read 24 tweets
May 26
This morning, a continuous fid a videos from key roads in russian 🇷🇺 occupied territories allowed a large number of new geolocations.

I have now mapped 125 trucks hit on key roads, mostly in may, with more than 80 destroyed.

🧵THREAD🧵1/8 ⬇️ Image
I geolocated two additionnal burned trucks north of Berdiansk :

46.866328, 36.760171

(red part is visible on more recent satellite images)

Image
Image
This video from this morning on the Mariupol-Melitopol road shows 4 vehicles on fire in the middle of the road after a strike.

Geoloc :
Read 8 tweets
May 25
Across the weekend, Ukraine 🇺🇦 continued to harass Russian 🇷🇺 logistics routes along the Azov Sea and in Donetsk

Ukrainian strikes are beginning to pose a problem for Moscow, whose advance on the front has slowed this year.

🧵THREAD🧵1/15 ⬇️ Image
This morning, @azov_media published a second video of their strikes around Mariupol, this time hitting around 20 military and fuel trucks between Mariupol and the russian border.

On this important road, I have now mapped more than 23 hits (some trucks are confirmed as destroyed by ground videos showing destroyed vehicles) with Hornet drones on russian logistics.

Geolocations sources are here :
🔹x.com/moklasen/statu…
🔹x.com/99Dominik_/sta…
🔹My own geos : x.com/clement_molin/…
🔹+ some more guesses I added on the map based on Azov map shared at the beginning of the video.
Read 15 tweets
May 23
New Map Update 🇺🇦/🇷🇺 💥

I updated the map of ukrainian middle strikes against trucks with some new geolocations and informations published today.

I have now ~15 confirmed hits on the Rostov-Crimea road and 30 confirmed hits on the Mariupol-Donetsk road + Donetsk ring. ⬇️ Image
For now, we have mainly videos from these two roads. I've tryed to geolocate some videos from supply roads leading to Donetsk, but it's much more difficult, especially due to the quality of the images.

This video is useful, because they put the area hit:

Yesterday's geolocations come from here : multiple geolocators + my own geolocations :

Read 5 tweets
May 23
In the Sloviansk direction, Russia 🇷🇺 launched 800 airstrikes this month in two directions, preparing the terrain for a larger offensive.

At the same time, Ukraine's third Azov Corps launched the first counter-attacks to cut the Lyman salient.

🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️Image
Few days ago, I posted an update on the Oskil front situation, depicting the most important assault roads used by russian troops.

On this update, you could see two ukrainian drone strikes located by @giK1893 in Pryshyb and Tetianivka, behind the Donets river. Image
This river is very important, it was the main ukrainian defensive line in the region in 2022, it's covered by massive forests and directly protecting cities like Izium or Sloviansk.

For 3 years, the russians are trying to reach it, behind the town of Lyman. Image
Read 16 tweets
May 22
Situation préoccupante à l'ouest d'Houlialpole dans le sud de l'Ukraine, où la Russie a lancé plus de 1 000 frappes aériennes ces 20 derniers jours.

La précision des frappes, environ 80%, et leur localisation montrent que l'armée russe met d'importants moyens dans la région. ⬇️ Image
A titre de comparaison, voici les frappes aériennes durant le mois d'avril dans la zone : Image
Et celles en février/mars :

On remarque bien le déplacement vers l'ouest. Image
Read 5 tweets

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