For the first time ever, Deepstate has admitted to Russian consolidation within Kostyantynivka city.

For reference, the first Russian capture of parts of Kostyantynivka occurred around 10 months ago, in early-November 2025.

❗️The Russian salient north of Lyman has officially been cleared by Ukrainian forces.

Over the last week, the remaining Russian formations withdrew from their bridgehead west of the Nitrius River, and then further east towards the Zherebets River. Ukrainian forces have recaptured the villages of Shandryholove, Serednje, Zelena Dolnya, Derylove, and Novomykhailivka, and most of the forests between them.

Right now, Ukrainian forces are attempting to reach the Zherebets River from several different directions. The main thrust is taking place down the gullies from the direction of Nove, where they are approaching the villages of Ivanivka and Terny. Other assault groups are actively fighting for Kolodyazi and are close to establishing full control over it, while attacks are taking place along the gullies on the flanks of the settlement.

Meanwhile, on the far left flank of this counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces recaptured the village of Novomykhailivka and are expanding their zone of infiltration along the gulley towards Novolyubivka. Some small groups of soldiers have managed to cross over into Luhansk Oblast and are attempting to capture some positions in the forests there. On the far right flank of this push, Ukrainian forces are intensifying their infiltrations into Zarichne, expanding the grey-zone in the northern streets, and are now trying to cross the Zherebets River and recapture the strongpoints at the Torske Fish Farm.

With this Russian salient now gone, the threat of encirclement for Lyman has been eliminated, and significant pressure on Slovyansk and Borova has been alleviated. Over a year of Russian progress and offensive operations has now been completely reversed. I will make a more in-depth analysis post on the tactical-level and strategic implications of this counteroffensive later.

+ ~151.88 km² in favour of Ukraine.

Interactive map: amkmapping.com

NOTE: the sources I used for this include my own information from the ground, multiple Russian channels, and an analysis of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The information from the ground included was not used to identify the current frontline configuration. The only part of that information I took into account for this update was the fact that the salient had been cleared, which is confirmed by open sources. The majority of this information was gathered from open sources, and it does not break Ukraine's OPSEC regime.

I'd like to note that pretty much all of the Russian formations were able to withdraw before being encircled. This was already occurring a few weeks ago from west of the Nitrius River, but an order to withdraw from the areas between the Nitrius and Zherebets River was given some time after September 1.

This order was given once it became clear to the Russian command that their forces defending the Kolodyazi and Zelena Dolnya areas would be unable to prevent the salient from being cut off. They withdrew to prevent the ~200-300 remaining Russian soldiers defending this salient from being encircled and captured.

The high density of forested areas and foliage, along with artillery crews and Su-34s dropping KAB glide-bombs provided cover for this phased withdrawal to take place, so it's unlikely that any significant casualties were suffered by them in the process.

The situation on the Dobropillya & Druzhkivka directions continues to deteriorate for Ukraine:

Over the last week, Russian forces have significantly expanded their zone of infiltration, with several groups of their DRGs reaching the outskirts of Druzhkivka, and even into Bilozerske. Small assault groups have also began operating north of the "New Donbas" Line - the multi-layered defensive line aimed at forming a massive FPV drone kill-zone for Russian infantry.

In the east, Russian forces improved their positions in the area of Petrivka, while DRGs infiltrated up to the northern edge of Raiske on the outskirts of Druzhkivka. Some small assault groups crossed the Hruzka River and continued infiltrating Novomykolaivka, while DRGs expanded their zone of infiltration up to Novoandriivka and the nearby chalk quarries and entered the village of Novohryhorivka.

To the west, the Russians captured a number of positions on the tactical heights north of Stepy, continued entering Rubizhne, and began infiltrating DRGs across the New Donbas Line into Zolotyi Kolodyaz. Additionally, as a result of recent advances in the Kucheriv Yar area, some Russian DRGs managed to infiltrate up to 10 km, moving along a forested gulley north of Hruzke and are operating along the Dobropillya-Kramatorsk Highway, in the same area where the maximum extent of infiltration was achieved during the August 2025 breakthrough.

In the area of Dobropillya, Russian DRGs were detected operating in the southeastern high-rise buildings of Bilozerske City on September 2nd, while additional DRG infiltrations occurred in the direction of Vesele Pole. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued infiltrating Dobropillya City from the east, southeast, and south, while Ukrainian forces managed to clear the territory of the Dobropillya mine. Out of the 4 previously usable sealed roads into Dobropillya, one is physically cut, while the other 3 have Russian DRGs operating along them.

There is precisely zero evidence that Putin has set any deadlines for the capture of Donetsk Oblast. All of these claims have been made by the Ukrainian government.

It's a propaganda tactic. When you invent a fake goal for your enemy that you know they wont achieve, you can then turn and say their offensive "completely failed". Basing your analysis on this complete and utter lie will naturally create results skewed in favour of Ukraine.

In reality, there is no evidence that Russia has set any of these goals, beyond just unfounded PR claims made by the Ukrainian government.

Why does anyone take ISW seriously...

These are the locations where Russian DRGs were detected in the last few days, according to my information. The other locations not mentioned here were gathered from open sources.

Notably, Russian DRGs entered the southeastern high-rise buildings of Bilozerske on September 2nd (48.53075, 37.07131) and it's currently unknown if they were cleared out or retreated. Additionally, DRGs were detected in the northern-most houses of Raiske (48.5885, 37.47347) about 600 metres from the first houses of Druzhkivka.

The other locations where they were detected was along the highway just south of Novotroitske (48.5697, 37.2171) and at multiple locations along the forested gully to the southeast.

In the Kramatorsk direction, a few days ago a Russian DRG group was detected approximately 1.7 km of Kramatorsk's first houses, along the hill west of Vasylivska Pustosh overlooking the city.

Therefore, there is a risk of Russian DRGs operating within Kramatorsk city in the near future if Russian assault groups operating further east are not pushed back.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to advance east of Kramatorsk, expanding the grey-zone in the areas of Zapovidne and Orikhuvatka, and the infiltration zone near Pershomarivka.

The situation continues to deteriorate, and the recent loss of the majority of the dominant heights between Kramatorsk and Bakhmut will allow Russian forces to advance much further in the coming weeks and months.

On the four-year anniversary of the Ukrainian 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive that saw them recapture Lyman, Russia has once again retreated from Lyman.

And some say history never repeats itself lol

The Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement regarding their overnight Geran-2/4 drone attacks on port infrastructure in Odesa Oblast.

They claimed to have hit the "Mavka" dry cargo vessel in Chornomorsk Port; a production and loading complex at Izmail Port used for unloading military cargo supplied from western countries; and a patrol boat of the Ukrainian Navy used to escort cargo ships.

Russian Geran-4 jet-drone strike on a Ukrainian FP-2 mid-range drone launch position near Oleksiivka, Kharkiv Oblast.

A Russian Su-35 is trying to shoot down a Ukrainian aircraft west of Slovyansk using an R-37/77 air-to-air missile. The Ukrainian aircraft was launching glide-bombs at the Chasiv Yar area.

The air-to-air missile was detected flying west over Bakhmut at 3,900 km/h.