General Biletsky: Russia’s “Northern Claw” In The Donetsk Region Has Been Crushed

• 17.09.2026, 15:01

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have achieved a significant victory near Svyatogorsk.

Russian troops have lost the opportunity to encircle the fortified cities of the Donetsk region from the north. The situation in the Dobropillya area remains difficult.

According to "Ukrinform", the commander of the Third Army Corps, Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, stated this on television.

“The Russians had a plan for the Donetsk sector—to encircle the so-called ‘fortress cities’ from the north and south. From the south, this involved an encirclement via Dobropillya, and from the north—via this salient, which is now being cut off—it advanced toward the city of Svyatogorsk and beyond... to the settlement of Barvinkove, where these two ‘claws’ of the Russian army—the Dobropillya one from the south and the Svyatogorsk one from the north—were supposed to close in,” Biletsky said.

The situation in the Dobropillya area remains difficult

According to him, the advance of Russian troops near Dobropillya was halted last year. Currently, the situation in this area remains complex, but Ukrainian forces are in control.

“As for the northern prong, it has effectively been crushed and destroyed,” — noted the commander of the Third Corps.

Russia may move to a head-on assault on cities

Biletsky emphasized that it is now critically important “to paralyze logistics, paralyze the rear, and prevent the Russians from resuming this offensive.”

“Then they will have to launch a head-on assault on the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka-Konstantinovka metropolitan areas. And storming these cities head-on is a much more painful and costly endeavor for them than trying to encircle them and, in effect... take them without a fight,” explained the commander of the Third Corps.