Komar direction, S Donetsk oblast.

Ukrainian forces, alongside their significant gain of operational momentum in Lyman direction, are continuing offensive operations toward the direction of Velyka Novosilka.

Most recently, AFU forces advanced through agglomerations of fields south and southeast of Maliyivka, managing to take up positions in the village of Shevchenko and push the rest of it into a grey zone.

Further, the most advanced Ukrainian assaulters are entering the villages of Vilne Pole and Komyshuvakha, as well as advancing eastward toward Burlatske.

Since the start of the year, the area of Ukrainian controlled south Donetsk oblast (defined as everything south of the Vovcha river) has increased from practically 0 to over 200km^2 now.

Counting down the Top 10 most influential, tragic, or craziest clips of the Ukraine war:

Day 1, number 10:

Russian tank takes Ukrainian soldiers completely by surprise, Circa. April 2022

credit to @CiudadanoBahia twitter

No gore shown

In an unknown location filmed in April 2022, a group of Ukrainian soldiers can be seen calmly standing and conversing whilst a Russian T-72B3 tank approaches slowly.
The Ukrainian soldiers seem to be under the impression that the tank is of the AFU, with one even seemingly being friendly and acknowledging it.

The Russian tank approaches to within ~20 metres, where it stops and fires on the unsuspecting group of soldiers.

Sources from the time of the incident reported that 21 AFU were sadly killed as a result.

What makes this video interesting is the complete lack of situational awareness shown by the AFU soldiers.

But what makes it haunting, more than anything, is how this shows that lives can change or end in an absolute instant in war, as these unfortunate soldiers were completely relaxed, and gone the next second. Extremely tragic.

This video is shown only for respectful, educational and informative purposes. No gore or death is shown. May the soldiers who died rest in peace.

Threat of Iskander-M/S-400 ballistics from Bryansk.

I understand that Russia remains committed to prolonging the war of attrition at the cost of fewer casualties and even further territorial losses, but time continues to take its toll on troop morale and public support for the war. Losing the Lyman salient has not been particularly costly for Russia, as it ordered a swift withdrawal, and it is highly likely that the Ukrainian advance will be halted at Zherebets; the issue is the impact on the morale of troops who have seen almost a year’s work undone in a matter of weeks, without noticing any substantial change in the dynamics of the war. This is compounded by the lack of reinforcements on certain fronts, the failure to implement countermeasures, and the absence of intensified attacks on the Ukrainian rear.
The disaster of 2022 will not be repeated, but neither do the advances of 2024–2025 seem likely to be, unless Moscow decides to take more radical measures to accelerate the deterioration of the Ukrainian armed forces – something that could be carried out now that the Russian parliamentary elections have concluded.
Local setbacks are not a cause for concern at present, but their accumulation will eventually take its toll on Russian morale and, consequently, on the conduct of military operations, which could lead to a genuine stalemate on the front by 2027.🇷🇺🇺🇦

Z-fanatics are now hallucinating two different encirclements: one in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, and one in Dobropillya.

Neither are anywhere near encircled, especially Dobropillya where Russian infiltrations behind the city remain very limited and sporadic.

Kupyansk direction, Kharkiv oblast.

Ukrainian forces, in addition to their counterattacks across the front, are now spreading offensive operations to the eastern bank of the Oskil.

Ukrainian forces were able to reenter the towns of Kivsharivka and Novoosynove, improving their tactical situation.

To the north of Kupyansk, the AFU reentered the town of Kalynove as part of continuing counterattacks in this area alongside Columbian mercenaries.

Overall, this is an extremely good month or two month stretch for the AFU. It seems to be another Russian regrouping that happens every 6 months or so, which Ukraine has taken advantage of.

PS: One of my admins *cough cough* decided it was funny to post something stupid, i deleted it quickly but please ignore if you did see it.

https://t.me/AMK_Mapping/38310

Please, never forget the civilian cost of this war on both sides. War is much more than a football match where you get mad because your side is losing. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about peace that’s needed.

Barring some major Russian advance this coming week, the month of September 2026 will officially be Ukraine's first monthly net positive territorial gain in over 3 years.

A significant pro-Russian channel (Z Committee) has reported further significant Ukrainian advances east of Lyman, this time in the forested area between Dibrova and Torske.

Ukrainian forces have nearly entered the town of Torske itself as the situation continues deteriorating for russia.

I am now of the belief that despise the attritional advantage Russia holds, it needs to, from a military perspective, conduct another wave of mobilisation to press its advantage decisively.

Despite the AFU also doing so, the Russian army is now beginning to weaken to the point that it is adversely affecting their ability to respond to aggressive Ukrainian counterattacks.

Holy SHIT its so much worse than i thought. There are some absolutely astounding updates from Slovyansk direction (it's no longer even Slovyansk direction, its back to Mykolaivka/Ray-Oleksandrivka direction...)

No words... Just shock!!!!!

As a result of these Ukrainian counterattacking operations, full control over the following villages has been restored:

Lyman city, Mykolaivka city, Orikhuvatka, Ray-Oleksandrivka and Kryva Luka, Starodubivka and Pyskunivka.

Lyman still has a small presence of Russian troops in the Masliakivka suburb but Nikolaevka was completely secured by Ukrainian Army after the elimination of Russian infiltrations in the last two & a half weeks. Yesterday I discussed the problem of the accumulation of Ukrainian local successes for the Russians, and this is now happening as these successes spread to both banks of the Donets River. It’s no longer just that the loss of Lyman is hindering the progress of the Russian operation to take Sloviansk; rather, the very momentum behind the Russian assault on the city from the east has vanished (though the same cannot yet be said of Kramatorsk, at least for now). 🇺🇦🇷🇺

A Russian Tupolev 22M3 strategic bomber is redeploying from Belaya airbase to Engels 2 airbase in preparation for an upcoming combined Russian missile attack, possibly involving Kh-22/32 cruise missiles.

POV: Russian army group Zapad command

With these major Ukrainian advances in the Lyman & Slovyansk directions, monthly frontline km² changes are gonna look crazy for September.

Obviously, as I've always said, this is a war of attrition, where success is measured in attrition dealt to your enemy relative to his size. Km² advances on the side inflicting the higher levels of attrition (Russia) are typically a biproduct of that successful attrition.

But its undoubtable that Ukraine's successes here have been a mix of extreme incompetence by the Russian Zapad command, and a very well-planned and executed operation by the Ukrainian command, who has long evolved from the hard lessons learned during the 2023 counteroffensive and the Kursk operation.

These Ukrainian advances will delay the battle for Slovyansk by at least several months (and Kramatorsk by extension, as both cities would likely have to be taken simultaneously in my opinion), and will prevent Russia from re-entering Lyman (let alone capturing it) for some time, resulting in many more Russian casualties that will be suffered in the future. The southern Ukrainian bridgehead east of the Oskil River is also now safe from being cut off from the south, and Svyatohirsk has been re-established as a safe, rear logistical hub for the Lyman direction, as it is now around 25 km from the nearest Russian-controlled territory.

In turn, I think we can expect an intensification of Russian offensive operations towards Druzhkivka and Dobropillya, with the eventual goal of developing a large left flank to Kramatorsk, cutting off the main highways leading into the city from the west. I also advise you all to keep an eye out on Kharkiv Oblast, Sumy Oblast, and Chernihiv Oblast, the latter of which may see some cross-border incursions soon aimed at stretching limited Ukrainian manpower.

Counting down the top 10 clips of the Ukraine war:

Day 2, number 9:

Russian Kh-101 cruise missile deploys countermeasures before striking a Hyrdoelectric power station.

22 March 2024

This clip shows a Russian Kh-101 subsonic cruise missile shooting out flares as countermeasures to Anti-Air fire or interceptors as it enters final approach to the Dnipro hydroelectric powerplant, Zaporizhzhya city.

The up-close view of the ENORMOUS explosion is what makes this clip worthy of the #9 spot. The missile clearly hits the turbine generator core of the plant itself with pinpoint accuracy, causing an immediate fireball and the flaring of debris to a substantial distance, as the cameraman is forced to take shelter despite being at least several hundreds of metres away.

I remember distinctly when this video initially was released, as it was the first time people within the wider information space began to acknowledge the technological capabilities of Russian missiles without dismissing them as “backward” or “worthless”.

The visible shooting of flare countermeasures from the Kh-101 cruise missile made people, at least from my perspective, begin to realise that the brave Ukrainian resistance was not dealing with a backward, feudalistic Russia that was operating on sheer willpower, but rather a modern Russia that had adapted to postcontemporary attritional warfare in an undeniable manner regarding its technological capabilities.

As such, especially considering the time period coinciding with a rapidly and uncontrollably deteriorating situation on the front at Ocheretyne, the wider public began to acknowledge that Ukraine needed far greater assistance to survive than what had been provided thus far.

For the aforementioned reasons, this clip takes the #9 spot as we count down the top 10 most influential videos of the war in Ukraine.

Supersonic cruise missile/Ballistic threat from Rostov-na-donu.