Donetsk showdown puts Ukraine’s new commanders to the test

Mykhailo Drapatyi

Ukraine is bracing for months of fierce fighting around Donetsk’s key strongholds, in the first major battlefield test for new army chief Mykhailo Drapatyi and his commanders. Russia’s slow advance is bringing its forces within striking distance of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the backbone of Ukraine’s eastern defences.

Russia closes in on the fortress belt

Russian forces are now less than 15km from the two cities, which have faced intensifying strikes from drones and guided bombs. Their capture would bring Moscow closer to seizing the remainder of the industrialised Donetsk region — a major political and military prize for Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine has rejected Russian demands to surrender the 15%-20% of Donetsk it still controls. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called the region’s fate “the question of this war”, while analysts expect fighting to intensify through September and October.

Winter could trigger a dangerous new assault

Military analyst Michael Kofman warned Russia could attempt fresh mechanised attacks as autumn weather worsens and drones become less effective. But Ukraine has already demonstrated it can blunt major Russian assaults, including a failed offensive near Dobropillia.

The pressure is compounded by stalled diplomacy. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner revived peace contacts in Kyiv at the weekend, but there has been no breakthrough, and Zelenskiy expects the war to continue through winter.

Drapatyi bets on battlefield veterans

Drapatyi, 43, replaced Oleksandr Syrskyi in July and has handed responsibility for the region to prominent commanders Andrii Biletskyi and Denys Prokopenko. Both have built large, disciplined and technologically advanced formations and are credited with stabilising threatened sections of the front.

They will be backed by Colonel Emil Ishkulov, whose 11th Army Corps covers Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The reshuffle reflects Drapatyi’s apparent effort to give operational commanders greater authority rather than tightly controlling battlefield decisions.

But Ukraine still faces its biggest weakness

Kyiv enters the autumn campaign with some modest territorial gains, including more than 700 square kilometres claimed during its counterattack in the southeast. Yet its forces remain short of manpower and its troubled mobilisation system has still not been fixed.

That leaves Drapatyi facing a brutal test: hold the fortress belt against a larger Russian army, preserve Ukraine’s eastern defences and prove that the new command structure can stop Moscow’s relentless, if painfully slow, advance.

Analysis - Russian drive on Donetsk region puts Kyiv's new commanders to the test