The Ukrainian army is facing significant difficulties. The front line's distortion bears witness to Russian forces' thrust in recent days. Russian advances are creating pincer movements in multiple areas in the Donetsk region. For the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) units, the threat of encirclement, rare because of the slowness of Russian movements, is now resurfacing as the invading army throws all its might to achieve its goal of conquering the whole of the Donetsk region before the wet season.

The Ukrainian site DeepStateMap, which maps the daily evolution of the frontline, shows its rapid evolution in the direction of Pokrovsk since July 20. The explanation suggested by a comment on the website is that the Ukrainian infantry brigade holding the town of Prohres was forced to make a chaotic retreat due to its unpreparedness. The 47th mechanized brigade, which came as reinforcements, was unable to hold Prohres because of a lack of infantry. Incidentally, the map shows Russian infantry advancing along the railroad line, which military analysts explained by Ukrainian engineers' inability to build obstacles on this infrastructure.

As a result, a pocket is currently forming north of the city, in which the 31st Ukrainian mechanized brigade's 1st and 3rd battalions risk being encircled. Meanwhile, the Russian army's 30th, 35th motorized rifle brigades and 27th motorized rifle division have gained 5 square kilometers towards the T 0504 road, a crucial logistical line connecting the towns of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar, which are already in contact with Russian forces.

A larger pincer is also forming south of the city of Toretsk. Nikolai Mitrokhin, an independent Russian military analyst, called the situation "critical" for the AFU. "The Russian army's advance there is about five times faster than in other cities conquered so far," he noted, predicting that "if things continue like this, by the end of the summer, the AFU will be forced to withdraw entirely from the urban area."

100 kilometers further north, in the Kharkiv region, the AFU is also struggling on the eastern bank of the Oskil River. A rapid advance led by the Russian guard's 1st armored army toward the village of Kruhlyakivka has now brought it just 8 kilometers from the wet cut – the defensive system changing the river's course. If the village were to fall into the Russian army's hands, the Ukrainian position on the eastern bank of the Oskil would be cut in two and severely weakened, with a risk of encirclement for the Ukrainian units remaining on the northern part of the bank.

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