ISW identifies two crucial factors fueling Russia’s advance in Donetsk region

This is stated in a report on the ISW website.

“Russian forces continue to make slow, steady advances in the Pokrovsk direction (west of Avdiivka), largely enabled by Ukrainian manpower shortages and the terrain in the area immediately northwest of Avdiivka,” the report says.

At the same time, analysts note that the Russian advance is likely to slow down in the future.

“Russia's current rate of tactical advance towards Pokrovsk will likely not continue indefinitely, however, as Russian forces are approaching a line of larger and more urban settlements. Current Russian efforts in the Pokrovsk direction are concentrated on achieving a tactical breakthrough near Zhelanne and Novohrodivka. The next defensible line between the current forward Russian line of advance and Pokrovsk runs between the towns of Selydove, Novohrodivka, and Hrodivka, with many of the current Russian tactical advances focused specifically on the Novohrodivka-Hrodivka sector of the line (about five kilometers west of Russian positions in the Vesele area),” the researchers report.

ISW also cites the opinion of military observer Kostiantyn Mashovets, who warned that Russian troops are close to achieving an operationally significant breakthrough in the Pokrovsk sector by the end of August.

The ISW explains the lack of forces to deter the Russian troops by the fact that the units are insufficiently manned and equipped.

For example, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that some Ukrainian brigades cannot rotate because the units that are supposed to replace them are not yet manned and equipped. This creates weaknesses that can be exploited by Russian troops for an offensive.

Kostiantyn Mashovets noted that Ukrainian defenders in the Pokrovsk direction have inferior equipment and defensive means and are therefore currently unable to slow Russian advances. Delays in the provision of Western and especially US military assistance have contributed to delays in equipping newly-raised Ukrainian units and re-equipping those that have been fighting.

• Earlier, Deep State analysts reported that Russian troops were advancing near a number of settlements in the Donetsk region and that Russia had occupied Tymofiivka and Vesele.