The Russian army is applying chess tactics near Zaporozhye and Pokrovsk

The Russians advanced several kilometers on the Zaporozhye and Pokrovye directions, approaching key roads and settlements. But at the same time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are returning the initiative with local counterattacks. The Ukrainian military calls Russia's actions a “chess game“ — with the exchange of people for a few meters of progress, writes the Ukrainian magazine "Focus".

On October 24, 2025, Russian troops advanced on Zaporozhye by 1.7-2 km, approaching Stepnogirsk and crossing the E105 highway, which leads to Zaporozhye (23 km). On the Pokrovskoye direction, the Russians also moved the front line by 1-2 km. At the same time, the AFU achieved success, liberating part of Kucherovy Yar and repelling attacks near Dobropilya.

This is evidenced by the updated DeepState data, which reflects changes on the 200 km long front (currently the front line is about 1,200 km long).

According to Maxim Bakulin, head of the information and communications service of the 14th operational brigade of the 1st corps of the NGU "Azov", the Russian troops are using tactics that can be conditionally compared to a game of chess: in order to advance, they are sacrificing a significant number of personnel and equipment.

According to Bakulin, on Pokrovskoye and several other directions, Russia is actively using armored vehicles — BMP, MT-LB, APC, trying to distract the attention of Ukrainian forces and disperse their resources, in particular UAVs.

"They are distracting, thinning out our positions for working with drones, so that the number of UAVs can fly in this direction. Whoever follows our social networks, we posted a video of the destruction of the Russian BMP. And if you look closely, there about seven drones were destroying it in different places, in order to immobilize and burn it“, the military notes.

The head of the information and communications service emphasizes that the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plays a key role, acting professionally and often performing the main work in destroying Russian troops. It either complements the work of drones, or takes on the main burden. However, the change in weather conditions, in particular fog, complicates the work of unmanned aircraft for both sides. In such conditions, Russia is trying to use “convenient hours“ and routes to accumulate forces and advance. This makes infantry observations critically important.

Alexander Kovalenko, a military-political analyst for the “Information Resistance“ group, said he was not sure what the tactic that the Russians are currently using, particularly in the fighting near Pokrovsk, is called, and which some call “chess”.

As the observer notes, Russian forces have been constantly conducting assault offensive operations, but since the spring of 2024, they have increasingly been using tactics in small groups – from 2 to 4 people. This differs from previous approaches, when attacks were accompanied by equipment such as armored personnel carriers with a landing force of 10-15 people. "In such cases, one FPV drone could destroy not only a machine, but also a significant number of personnel: several dead, wounded or injured".

"The attacks are carried out with a minimum number of infantry, which forces Ukrainian forces to spend more resources on "hunting" small groups. One FPV drone often hits only one or two targets, while 10-15 drones may be needed to neutralize a group of 15 people. This leads to "dilution" of Ukrainian positions and depletion of the drone component, which is taken advantage of by Russian forces," Kovalenko emphasizes.

The expert adds that such an evolution of tactics was predictable: as early as 2024, they warned about the massive use of infantry by the Russians. Therefore, the Ukrainian defense must move from the classic schemes for countering mechanized columns, as in 2022-2024, to hyper-enhanced anti-personnel defense.