The coming days will be decisive: ISW on the situation around Pokrovsk and Dobropillya
According to the ISW report, Russian troops have advanced to the south-east of Dobropillya, and fighting is taking place near the settlements of Novoye Shakhovo and Novy Donbass.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note that in the coming days before the meeting between US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's ability to prevent an accelerated advance of Russian troops near Pokrovsk will be decidedThe Russians have probably occupied a number of settlements near Dobropillya - Razino, Sukhetske, Fedorovka, Zatishok, Boykivka, Novotoretske, Zapovednoe, Mayak and Pankivka.
However, experts warn that it is premature to call these successes an operational-level breakthrough, although the Russians will seek to build on the advance.
Particular attention has been paid to Russian drone strikes on Ukrainian logistics routes in the rear - along the T-0514 motorway (Dobropillya-Liman) and the T-0515 road in Rodynske. These attacks force the AFU to use bypass routes, which hampers supply and could affect defensive operations.
ISW believes that the Russian leadership is deliberately creating an information background around the advance in eastern Ukraine in order to present the seizure of four regions - Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson - as inevitable before meeting with Trump. This, analysts say, is aimed at pressuring and squeezing concessions from Ukraine and Western allies.
Nevertheless, the report emphasises that full occupation of these regions is far from guaranteed. Russian forces will face serious operational difficulties, especially in the Donetsk region, where holding territory could take years. As a result, ISW concludes that Russia's current intensification of tactical offensives is a tool of political pressure in the run-up to the Putin-Trump talks.