KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, scattering Kyiv’s precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn.
Moscow aims to maximize its territorial gains before seriously considering a full ceasefire, analysts and military commanders said. Ukraine wants to slow the Russian advance for as long as possible and extract heavy losses.
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FILE - A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Yehor Kryvoruchko, Kordon Media, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a woman takes shelter in the basement of an apartment building in Pokrovsk, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops, Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 25, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier fires a 120 mm mortar toward Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 27, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
FILE - A soldier of Ukraine's 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade prepares to fires a rocket launcher toward Russian positions at the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a serviceman prepares to fire a howitzer toward Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 14, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
Kremlin forces are steadily gaining ground in the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, the capture of which would hand them a major battlefield victory and bring them closer to acquiring the entire Donetsk region. The fighting there has also brought combat to the border of the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time.
In an effort to prevent Moscow from bolstering those positions in the east, Ukrainian forces are trying to pin down some of Russia’s best and most battle-hardened troops hundreds of kilometers away, in the northeast Sumy region.
“The best-case scenario for Ukraine," said Russian-British military historian Sergey Radchenko, "is that they’re able to stall or stop the Russian advance" in the Ukrainian industrial heartland known as Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Then Ukraine could "use that as the basis for a ceasefire agreement.”
“There’s a better chance for Russia to come to some kind of terms with Ukraine" in the fall when the Russians "see the extent of their offensive,” Radchenko added.
While the battles rage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is waiting to learn whether the Trump administration will support tougher sanctions against Russia and back a European idea to establish a “reassurance force” to deter Moscow.
A setback came with the U.S. decision Tuesday to halt some weapons shipments to Ukraine out of concern over America's own depleted stockpiles.
In the Sumy region, Ukrainian forces face a constant barrage of aerial glide bombs, drones and relentless assaults by small groups of Russian infantrymen. They endure the attacks to prevent Russian forces from being moved to other battlegrounds in the eastern Donetsk region.
Ukrainian forces intensified their own attacks in Sumy in April and even conducted a small offensive into Russia's neighboring Kursk region to prevent up to 60,000 battle-hardened Russian forces from being moved to reinforce positions in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Ukraine’s top army commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last week.
If those troops had been moved, they could have increased the tempo of Russian attacks across the front line and stretched Ukrainian forces thin.
The strategy did not come without criticism. Commanders who were ordered to execute it complained that it resulted in unnecessary loss of life.
Russian forces have penetrated up to 7 kilometers (4 miles) into the northern Sumy region from different directions along the border.
Ukrainian forces are determined to keep them there to avoid freeing up Russian forces to fight in the east. So far they have succeeded, locking up to 10,000 Russian troops in the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region alone, where Ukraine maintains a small presence after being mostly forced out by Russian and North Korean troops earlier in the year.
The war's largest battle is being waged in Donetsk as Russia inches toward its stated goal of capturing all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Unable to tackle the strategically significant logistical hub of Pokrovsk directly, Russian forces are attempting to encircle the city, a maneuver that requires encroaching on the borders of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Bringing the war to a sixth Ukrainian region would be detrimental for Ukrainian morale and give Russia more leverage in negotiations if its forces manage to carve out a foothold there.
Sabotage groups have crossed the border, only to be eliminated by Ukrainian forces.
But in time, commanders fear that Russia will advance as Ukraine continues to grapple with severe shortages.
Lack of soldiers and supplies across the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) front line mean that Ukrainian forces must concentrate on holding their positions and conserving resources rather than advancing, said Oleksii Makhrinskyi, deputy commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion.
Commanders describe battles so intense under drone-saturated skies that rotating forces in and out of position has become a deadly operation. Ukrainian forces remain in combat positions for several weeks at a time or more, relying on supplies carried in by drones.
The Russians' goal "is just to enter Dnipropetrovsk region, to have a good position politically if the presidents negotiate peace,” said Andrii Nazerenko, a commander of the 72nd Brigade, a drone unit in eastern Ukraine, referring to potential talks between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They’re really close to getting what they want,” he said.
Zelenskyy hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will move away from his administration's past ambivalence toward Ukraine and signal his intention to continue American support, a move that could also alter Moscow’s calculations.
The two presidents met last week on the sidelines of a NATO summit and discussed a possible weapons package, including Patriot missile systems that Ukraine intends to purchase with European support.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials said some air defense missiles, including some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons will be held back by the Trump administration as part the pause announced by the U.S. Defense Department when it disclosed the Pentagon review of American weapons stockpiles Tuesday. The officials requested anonymity to discuss what is being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.
The halt of any weapons from the U.S. would be a blow to Ukraine as it struggles to confront Russia’s daily aerial barrages.
Zelenskyy also hopes Trump will punish Russia by imposing harsher sanctions on its energy and banking sectors, which bankroll the Kremlin’s war effort.
Europe and the U.S. have imposed successive sanctions on Russia since the full-scale invasion in 2022, but Zelenskyy says those measures have not been enough to pierce Moscow’s war machine. He has proposed a $30 per barrel price cap on Russian oil.
EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan said Europe needs to maintain the sanctions pressure while also “holding out the prospect that if Russia behaves correctly, we could have some kind of ceasefire and some kind of sense of negotiation, but for the moment Russia doesn’t seem to want that.”
Kyiv’s closest European allies are also awaiting a sign from Trump that he will support a plan to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine to guard against future Russian aggression after a ceasefire agreement. That is likely the best security guarantee Ukraine can hope for in lieu of NATO membership.
Meanwhile on the battlefield, Russian forces appear increasingly confident.
Nazerenko noticed a shift in the morale of advancing Russian infantrymen in recent months. Instead of running away while being assailed by Ukrainian drones, they keep pushing forward.
Nazerenko could not help but ask a Russian prisoner: “You know you will die. Why go?”
Because, the Russian soldier replied: “We will win.”
Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.
FILE - A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Yehor Kryvoruchko, Kordon Media, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a woman takes shelter in the basement of an apartment building in Pokrovsk, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops, Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 25, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier fires a 120 mm mortar toward Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 27, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
FILE - A soldier of Ukraine's 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade prepares to fires a rocket launcher toward Russian positions at the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a serviceman prepares to fire a howitzer toward Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 14, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP, File)
