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War

As winter nears, Russia advances in two hotspots on Ukraine’s eastern front, DeepState says

2 min read
As winter nears, Russia advances in two hotspots on Ukraine’s eastern front, DeepState says
A resident walks next to a destroyed building in Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2024. (Piotr Sobik/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russian forces have completed the capture of two villages, Promin in Donetsk Oblast, and Vysoke in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukrainian analytical and mapping group DeepState reported on Nov. 26.

Both villages sit on two of the most active and contested sectors of the front line, and their loss reflects steady Russian advances ahead of the winter fighting season

Promin is located near the city of Myrnohrad, which remains under Ukrainian control despite its near-complete encirclement over the last month as Russian forces continue to overrun the neighboring city of Pokrovsk.

Meanwhile, Vysoke lies just northeast of the small city of Huliaipole, which — despite being one of the most stable parts of the front line for most of the full-scale war — is now threatened by Russia's brisk push into eastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

According to Ukraine's General Staff, Russian attacks were reported in almost all parts of the front line over the past day.

The Pokrovsk sector saw the heaviest fighting, with 41 clashes reported, followed by the Lyman area in northern Donetsk Oblast, with 35.

In a separate post on the Huliaipole area, the General Staff denied reports that pockets of Ukrainian troops had been surrounded, calling the situation "tense."

Russian forces have maintained a high tempo of offensive activity throughout autumn, with heavy fog and rain aiding assaults carried out mainly by small infantry groups.

In Pokrovsk, Russian forces continue to be geolocated in all parts of the city, with videos from the ground showing Russian soldiers casually walking through the center of the city.

Ukrainian forces continue to conduct counterattacking and clearing operations in the area, but none have been verified to significantly reverse Russian control.

Analysis: With all eyes on Pokrovsk, Russia drives forward in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
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Francis Farrell

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Francis Farrell is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is the co-author of War Notes, the Kyiv Independent's weekly newsletter about the war. For the second year in a row, the Kyiv Independent received a grant from the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust to support his front-line reporting for the year 2025-2026. Francis won the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandy for war correspondents in the young reporter category in 2023, and was nominated for the European Press Prize in 2024. Francis speaks Ukrainian and Hungarian and is an alumnus of Leiden University in The Hague and University College London. He has previously worked as a managing editor at the online media project Lossi 36, as a freelance journalist and documentary photographer, and at the OSCE and Council of Europe field missions in Albania and Ukraine.

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