Donbass offensive, border warfare and ballistic missile strikes: Last week in Russia-Ukraine conflict (VIDEOS)

Russia Today

26-05-2025

The past week in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has seen intensive fighting along the front line, with active combat continuing across Russia's Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), as well as in the border area between Russia's Kursk and Ukraine's Sumy regions. The Russian military has been actively conducting long-range installation and logistics strikes, taking out multiple Ukrainian high-value assets.
This week, Moscow's forces made new gains in the north of the DPR, liberating Torskoye, a large village located near the border with the Lugansk People's Republic and Ukraine's Kharkov Region. Torskoye had seen medium-intensity combat for months already and the front line in the area had largely been static prior to the latest development.
Donbass offensive continues
The Russian military has reported making new gains in southern Donbass, advancing on the flanks of Pokrovsk (also known as Krasnoarmeysk), the largest city remaining under Ukrainian control in the southwest of the DPR.
Over the week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of the villages of Novoaleksandrovka, located to the southwest of the city, Mikhaylovka to the east, and Novaya Poltavka, located further to the northeast.
Over the week, Russian forces made rapid gains further to the east, in the area between Novaya Poltavka and the city of Toretsk (also known as Dzerzhinsk), liberating at least two other settlements and partially encircling the Ukrainian forces stationed in the area. According to the Defense Ministry, the troops have seized control of Novoolenovka and Aleksandropol, as well as reportedly reached the outskirts of Romanovka.
This leaves the Ukrainian troops in the area confined to a large pocket spanning some 12 km from the village of Kalinovo in the south to Zarya in the north. The neck of the pocket is roughly 8 km wide, stretching from the outskirts of Aleksondropol to Romanovka.
The Russian military has also made new advances further to the south of the DPR. On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of Bogatyr, a large village located some 20 km to the west of the town of Kurakhovo and just southeast of the border between Russia's DPR and Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region.
The heavily fortified settlement of some 1,400 buildings, connected by a vast network of trenches and underground tunnels, was seized from Kiev's forces within a few days, the ministry said. It also released a short video capturing parts of the battle for the village, as well as showing Russian flags being hoisted.
Russian forces have also reportedly reached the border between the DPR and Dnepropetrovsk Region. A video circulating online shows troops waving the Russian flag next to a destroyed Ukrainian pickup truck that had crashed into a concertina wire obstacle placed at the border.
While it was not immediately known where exactly the Russian troops reached the defensive line, the advance was likely made in the area to the south of the recently liberated Novoaleksandrovka.
Border warfare
Over the week, combat has continued in the border area between Russia's Kursk and Belgorod, and Ukraine's Sumy Regions, with both sides making efforts to advance further. The most active hostilities have been reported to the northwest and south of the Sudzha area in Kursk Region, which was invaded by Ukraine last August and fully liberated by Russian forces earlier this year.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops had seized control of the Ukrainian village of Maryino. The settlement is located just across the border from the Belgorod Region villages of Popovka and Demidovka, which have been subjected to repeated and ultimately unsuccessful Ukrainian attacks over the past few weeks.
Ukrainian forces launched several new attacks on the Kursk Region village of Tetkino, which was the target of an unsuccessful incursion attempt in March 2024. The settlement has endured repeated attacks lately as Ukraine has tried to regain a foothold in Kursk Region.
A new video circulating online purports to show the outcome of one of the latest attacks on Tetkino. The attack involved two US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), a Soviet-era IMR-2 engineering vehicle, tanks and multiple quad bikes carrying infantry. One of the IFVs got stuck in a large crater, while another likely hit a landmine while trying to cross the reinforced border. All the vehicles involved in the attack suffered multiple FPV drone hits and ended up disabled or destroyed, the footage suggests.
The Russian military has continued to strike Ukrainian staging areas immediately across the border. A video available online shows seven aerial bombs fitted with a Universal Correction and Guidance Module (UMPK) winged upgrade kit hitting Ukrainian positions in the villages of Ryzhevka and Atinskoye, located immediately across the border from Tetkino.
Rear strikes
The Russian military has continued its effort to find and destroy high-value assets in Ukraine's near rear, targeting amassed troops, staging areas and logistics hubs with various medium-range weaponry, including ballistic missiles.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had targeted a Ukrainian special forces training camp near the town of Shostka in Sumy Region. The camp had various facilities, including a firing range and an obstacle course, and was packed with military vehicles, surveillance drone footage released by the ministry shows.
A Ukrainian detachment is seen approaching in formation a building, presumably a lecture hall, moments before the site is hit by an Iskander-M ballistic missile packing a high-explosive warhead.
According to the Russian military's estimates, up to 70 servicemen, including some 20 instructors, were killed in the strike. An ammo stockpile was taken out, while up to ten military vehicles were destroyed or damaged.
A video captured by the surveillance drone circulating online shows the aftermath of the attack. The building that the Ukrainian unit was approaching partially collapsed, while other structures at the location sustained considerable damage. Multiple damaged trucks are seen at the site.
Another video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showcases FPV drone strikes on a Ukrainian position in Kharkov Region. According to the military, the position housed an UAV operator unit. Russian drones, seemingly packed with incendiary munitions, scored direct hits on Ukrainian dugouts covered with camouflage netting, setting them on fire, footage shows.
A video circulating online, said to be taken in Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region, shows a Ukrainian anti-aircraft position coming under an Iskander-M ballistic missile strike. The radar, likely a Ukrainian-made 79K6 Pelican station, was set up in the open, protected only by an earth rampart.
The ballistic missile used in the strike carried a cluster warhead, with numerous explosions seen at the location, footage shows. While none of the sub-munitions scored a direct hit on the radar, the fragile system likely sustained considerable damage and was rendered inoperable, given that multiple bomblets exploded in its immediate vicinity.