The battlefield Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief inherits as Russian troops push toward Ukraine’s main defensive stronghold in Donbas

Ukraine has appointed a new commander-in-chief, Mykhailo Drapatyi, as Russian forces press toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk — Ukraine's main defensive stronghold in Donbas. Meduza reports Russian troops are advancing on a hundred-kilometer front, assaulting Kostiantynivka from multiple directions and threatening to encircle the Kramatorsk region from east and west. Ukrainian defenders are struggling to hold Kostiantynivka's neighborhoods and central districts, but the broader threat is a coordinated Russian strategy to outflank southern Donbas entirely. Meanwhile, Ukraine's own offensive in eastern Zaporizhzhia has halted Russia's westward drive but hasn't broken through decisively. Drapatyi inherits a stark strategic dilemma: continue pressing in Zaporizhzhia or shift limited forces north to resist the Russian encirclement.

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