Today, there is important news from the Sumy direction in the northeastern Ukraine.

Here, the Ukrainian tactic of cutting off and starving out Russian positions before eliminating them is paying off with the continued capture of village after village. Now, the last Russian stronghold in this sector is about to fall, with hundreds of enemy soldiers being left to either die or surrender.

Ukrainian forces push north as Russian strongholds crumble

Ukrainian forces in Sumy successfully exploit methodical maneuver warfare, pressing forward settlement by settlement to turn Russian positions into manageable targets. Rather than trading lives in costly frontal fights, Ukrainian commanders isolate enemy detachments, sever their supply lines, and then tighten the noose until those positions become untenable. Relentless air and drone strikes have exposed Russian units, leaving many undersupplied and unrotated for several weeks.

By bypassing strongpoints and collapsing salients piece by piece, Ukraine has been able to push north of Kindrativka and even probe back into Kursk while turning both sides of the border into a flexible battlefield.

Oleksiivka nearly encircled, supply road under fire

Another push north from Andriivka led to Oleksiivka being cut off on three sides and the Russians there facing an increasingly dangerous situation.

The encirclement is the result of coordinated Ukrainian maneuver, constant fire control, and persistent pressure, with Ukrainian units now executing flanking attacks to close lateral routes. At the same time, Ukrainian drone units pummel Russian concentrations and roads in the area with hundreds of strikes. This denies the Russians any possibility of moving freely and degrades all reinforcement efforts. With only a single usable road into Oleksiivka, bringing supplies, evacuating casualties, or rotating troops has become effectively impossible, as anyone attempting the approach is detected and struck long before it reaches the outer edge of the settlement.

Russian reinforcements rushed in—and destroyed

Russian soldiers on the ground now openly warn that Oleksiivka is heading for the same fate as Kindrativka unless the Russian command abandons the position rather than bury more troops there, as they report that the semi-encirclement is rapidly turning into a slaughter.

Instead, Russian officers have reacted with frantic redeployments in a bid to break the encirclement, as the exhausted 382nd Separate Infantry Battalion of the 810th Russian Naval Brigade was pushed into action at Kindrativka. Supposed to mount a counterattack and relieve the pocket at Oleksiivka, under normal strength, this formation would field roughly a thousand soldiers, but under current conditions, it only musters close to five hundred. Notably, a large number of these are reportedly newly mobilized, poorly trained, and badly equipped soldiers, thrown in just to bring the battalion up to a higher combat readiness on paper. Russian sources confirm all combat-effective reserves have been redeployed to Pokrovsk, leaving only second-tier and understrength units for the task of preventing a full-on collapse.

One Russian officer even reported they receive only older people, marginals, and simply not combat-ready recruits in poor physical condition. He added that to prevent desertion or the shooting of officers, they are constantly watched by military police and are only issued weapons right before combat missions, with ammunition limited to two magazines each.

The attempted rushed countermeasure to attack Kindrativka to relieve pressure at Oleksiivka was predictable and fated to fail. Replacements arrived under fire, becoming immediate targets for Ukrainian drone and artillery assets, with exhausted Russian units unable to form coherent assault echelons. Rather than rescuing the encircled formations, these hurried moves only dramatically increased Russian casualty counts.

The attempt to plug gaps with understrength battalions highlights an operational dilemma, with Russia’s concept of trading bodies for ground running straight into Ukraine’s deliberate tactics of isolation, starvation, and attrition.

Encirclement strategy is reshaping the Sumy front

Overall, with the Ukrainians maintaining pressure by holding fire control over the approaches, continuing daily drone strikes, and refusing to be lured into costly frontal battles, Oleksiivka’s fate will mirror earlier Russian collapses in the area. Ukraine’s advantage is decisive, with its troops being on the offensive and able to choose when and where to fight.

The fall of Oleksiivka would fracture the western part of Russia’s Sumy incursion, damage morale, and the remaining soldiers would either be captured or neutralized. This will jeopardize the nearby eastern salient and lead to repetition of the events with the same catastrophic outcome for Russia.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.