Overview
- Ukraine’s General Staff said fighting reached 127 engagements by Thursday afternoon, with the heaviest pressure on the Pokrovsk axis in Donetsk and a sharp uptick on the Huliaipil and Orikhiv fronts in Zaporizhzhia.
- Following Wednesday night’s mass drone wave, which Zelensky called a response to peace overtures, Ukraine’s air defenses reported downing 298 of 339 drones as strikes hit civilian sites including a postal terminal in Lutsk.
- Kyiv said its forces struck a plant in Russia’s Bryansk region that makes cruise‑missile parts and hit drones, a plane and a radar at Crimea’s Kirovske airfield, though Russia has not confirmed the damage.
- Moscow claimed full control of Luhansk, but Ukraine’s military and the 3rd Assault Brigade rejected that, and ISW assessed Russia controls about 99.84% of the region with some settlements still held by Ukraine.
- Regional spillover concerns grew after Russian drones struck near Slovakia’s border on Wednesday, prompting Bratislava to seek broader army powers to respond to stray missiles or drones.