Fierce fighting continues in Toretsk, Donetsk region, with the front line now dividing the city in half, passing through the center.
The Russian army is using scorched earth tactics, trying to destroy the city's infrastructure and the positions of the Ukrainian army. This is reported by the news channel "Suspilne Donbas" on Telegram, as well as the analytical project DeepState.
"Suspilne Donbas" spoke with the commander of the "Tsunami" regiment, call sign Mansur, who testified that the Russian army constantly uses attack drones and a significant amount of artillery. The attacks are coming from three directions - from the north, south and east, and the Russian assault does not stop for a moment. The Russian army has not yet entered armored vehicles.
The Russian army began its assault on Toretsk five months ago.
The fighting is taking place in the city itself, the front line passes somewhere in the center of the city. It can be said that it is already divided in half - by the enemy and by us. And the positions of the parties may be in adjacent rooms of the same house, Mansur told the channel. According to his testimony, the Russians are operating at the level of a motorized rifle brigade, sending battalion after battalion, without caring about the casualties they inflict.
The Russian occupiers are paying particular attention to destroying taller buildings, using the "scorched earth" tactic, which forces the Ukrainian defenders to retreat to the next cover and take up new positions.
DeepState also notes the Russian army's progress in Kurakhovo, Shevchenko, Dalnoye, Vozdvizhenka and Baranovka.
More than two months ago, the Russian army began an assault on the eastern cities of Selidovo, Gornyak, Kurakhovo and Toretsk in a clear attempt to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk by the end of the year or at least by the inauguration of US President Donald Trump and thus secure a more serious position when launching some negotiation efforts. Even the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region in August 2024 failed to divert the Russian army from this goal, and Moscow continues to insist on holding peace talks based on the "new realities".
Russia also used scorched earth tactics in the capture of Bakhmut, which was the responsibility of the battalions of the "Wagner" PMC, and Avdiivka - cities that the Ukrainians had turned into serious fortifications in their attempt to stop the Russian advance in Eastern Ukraine.
The Russian army is also making progress in the Kharkiv region, where the front line runs practically about 2 kilometers from the center of Kupyansk. This was confirmed by the head of the Ukrainian regional administration, Andriy Besedin, who stated that the Russians are hitting the settlements and outskirts of Kupyansk with all possible means, where there has never been any military infrastructure.
In Kovsharovka, Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, out of 257 housing cooperatives, not one has remained intact.
3,300 civilians remain in the Kupyansk region, 900 of them are on the left bank of the community, where there has been no infrastructure for three months. Civilian infrastructure remains on the right bank of the Oskol River, and government services and agencies are operating.
A month ago, Ukraine forcibly evacuated the Borovka municipality, south of Kupyansk, due to fears of a Russian offensive.
Russian forces occupied Kupyansk in the early days of their invasion in 2022, but were pushed out by a lightning-fast Ukrainian counteroffensive in September of that year.
In recent months, Moscow's forces have been slowly advancing back towards the city and are now less than 4 km from its northern outskirts, according to open-source maps.