Ukraine liberated a village in Donbas and managed to push back the Russians near another area

Defense forces have deoccupied the village of Serednie in the Kramatorsk district of Donetsk Oblast. Analysts from the Ukrainian monitoring project Deep State reported this on their Telegram channel. Ukrainian forces also prevented the enemy from advancing near Shandryholove in the Lyman sky district of Donetsk Oblast and repelled them. Ukrainian defense forces liberated Serednie and pushed back the enemy in the Shandryholove area, the statement said. As UNIAN reported, the defense forces thwarted the Russian military command's plans to encircle the fortress belt in the Donetsk region. A report by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War noted that Ukrainian forces are demonstrating success at the strategic and operational levels, despite Moscow presenting a Russian victory as inevitable. Recently, Ukrainian forces eliminated the Russian salient north of Lyman, >> [music] >> thwarting the Russian military command's plans to encircle the fortress belt in the Donetsk region from the Lyman and Dobropillia areas. According to analysts, Ukrainian troops recaptured more than 745 square kilometers in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions in the winter and spring of 2026. The report says Russian forces will not capture the Donetsk region until 2032 at the current rate of advance, if they manage to capture it at all. Recall, 12 years after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, the lesson is clear. Accepting or recognizing Russian control over the Donbas and other Ukrainian territories is not a pathway to peace. It would legitimize aggression, invite more war, and abandon millions of Ukrainians to systematic repression and ethnic cleansing. More than four years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow has still failed to fully seize the Don Bass. It occupies almost all of Luhansk and around three quarters of Donetsk, while Ukraine retains control over around 10 to 15% around key fortified cities such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. These positions anchor Ukraine's eastern defense and constrain Russian maneuverability. The Don Bass remains the most heavily contested and fortified theater of the war. Since 2014, Ukraine has built layered defensive systems including trench networks, hardened positions, and minefields designed to absorb and exhaust Russian assaults. These defenses have forced Russia into costly attritional tactics yielding minimal territorial gains with significant human and material cost. Control of the Don Bass is therefore strategic. It anchors Ukraine's eastern defense while tying down Russian resources. Calls within US-led negotiations for Ukraine to concede territory in exchange for peace persist with President Donald Trump pressing Kiev to compromise its territory rather than increasing pressure on Russia. This reflects a dangerous might makes right logic and the illusion that concessions will end the war. European partners oppose this strategy but have yet to secure an effective role in shaping negotiations. Forcing Ukraine to relinquish the Don Bass would dismantle its defensive shield which together with the army broader society considers an internal security guarantee. Rather than de-escalate the conflict, it would provide Russia with fortified ground, logistics hubs, and forward operating depth enabling it to regroup and prepare further offensives from a dramatically stronger position. A Russia that gains territory through coercion will use any pause not to reconcile but to rearm. >> Mhm.