Member-only story
Ukraine Counterattacks Across the Front: Liberates Settlements from Pokrovsk to Belgorod
Syrski Begins Testing Key Points Along the Russian Line
Russian forces attempted a border incursion near Kursk, aiming to push toward Sumy. But Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrski, had other plans. He swiftly pulled his troops back from Kursk, cutting off the Russian advance — then flipped the script. Syrski ordered Ukrainian forces to cross into Russia’s Belgorod region, daring the Kremlin to redeploy its northern grouping into exposed territory.
Moscow tried to play it cool. But instead of a limited raid, Syrski expanded Ukraine’s footprint across a 20-kilometer stretch inside Russian territory — signaling this is the beginning of something bigger.
After weeks of inaction, Russia is finally reacting to Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Belgorod. They had little choice — Syrski is deliberately using the delay to render swathes of the Russian border defenseless, advancing village by village, kilometer by kilometer.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), “Russia redeployed border guards, Chechen Akhmat forces, elements of the Russian Northern Grouping of Forces, and elements of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade (Pacific Fleet) to respond to the Ukrainian attacks in northwestern Belgorod Oblast.”
And that’s just the beginning. Ukraine is dead serious about the Belgorod salient. When Russian commanders tried to deploy helicopter gunships to halt the advance, Ukraine shot down four of them. HIMARS strikes have already taken out multiple command posts in the sector.
As Russia’s Northern Grouping still hunches over planning tables trying to respond to Belgorod, Syrski opened a new front. Ukrainian forces have launched a massive counteroffensive near Pokrovsk — home to lithium — and Toretsk, which sits atop key coal reserves.
Ukraine has liberated the villages of Udachyne and Kotlyne near Pokrovsk. If Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff are truly concerned about the welfare of Russian troops, they might want to advise President Zelensky to tread carefully — because at this rate, there won’t be many Russian soldiers left in the Pokrovsk and Toretsk salients to worry about.
