(...)

Well, the vast majority of Ukraine's manpower replacements come from forcibly mobilised men, and most of those are from men kidnapped off the streets by the TCC. The training camps they are sent to are often of very poor quality compared to ones for volunteer soldiers, and most of the time they do not receive the necessary amount of training time before being sent to the frontline. Some of these soldiers serve as "meat" for the notorious assault units or territorial defence brigades (e.g. the 108th TDF Brigade, 425th Assault Brigade "Skala"). While Ukraine has improved on this major issue (e.g. the infamous 47th and 110th Mechanised Brigades are no longer seeing massive destruction of their combat capabilities, and Skala has been broken up and reformed), the lack of training remains a major issue for their ability to fight effectively.

Additionally, prior to August, Ukraine *wasn't* achieving a replacement rate for their military, at least according to Tusk's 27,000 figure. This has only changed due to a new change in policy allowing for massively increased mobilisation in Kyiv and western Ukraine, which, especially Kyiv, served as a form of "safe haven" for young military-aged men, to an extent.

Furthermore, this 30,000 soldier per month mobilisation rate I provided is only based on recorded mobilisation incidents. It does not take into account men who escaped training centres or went AWOL upon reaching the frontline. I assume that Tusk's 27,000 number also does not include soldiers who went AWOL, as they are generally not considered "casualties" by the Ukrainian government. Therefore, when taking this into account, it becomes clear that, if Tusk's claim is correct, Ukraine likely isn't achieving a replacement rate on their army, with its size actively decreasing. This, in my opinion, is the single more important factor contributing to the manpower issues within the Ukrainian military that we so often hear about.

This guy is 3 times my age btw

He's tweeted "AMK" more than he's posted about Kostyantynivka, Orikhiv, Pokrovsk and Sumy COMBINED!!

The IRGC attacked a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz with a drone/anti-ship cruise missile, resulting in a fire that has since been extinguished.

Yesterday, 5 Russian KAB glide-bombs destroyed the last invincibility point in Dobropillya - a specialised emergency shelter set up to provide civilians with basic essentials to survive.

8 civilians were in the basement of the invincibility point at the time of the attack. All 8 people were killed.

Footage showing two of the recent Russian Geran-4 jet-drone strikes on Odesa.

A logistics centre and a battery energy storage facility were hit.

Russian Geran-4 jet-drones struck two cargo ships at Odesa and Izmail Ports, which the Russian Ministry of Defence claims were being used to transport military equipment.

Anatolyi Radov spotted on the streets of Slovyansk today, after being deployed to the frontline as a DRG 😁

Russian Geran-4 jet-drones struck a Ukrainian P-19MA radar system and an electronic warfare system near the town of Shyroke, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as well as vehicles allegedly transporting a 79K6 "Pelican" radar system in Odesa Oblast.

Russian Geran-4 jet-drones struck two dry cargo ships in the western Black Sea, that the Russian Ministry of Defence claims were being used to transport military equipment.

According to Ukrainian authorities, the number of civilians still remaining in Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk Oblast has decreased to 84,500, including over 4,000 children.

Since the beginning of September, around 10,900 civilians have evacuated the region due to intensified Russian strikes and further advances towards the last remaining population centres. The majority of the remaining civilians (around 58,000) reside in and around the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. The rest remain in the Druzhkivka, Dobropillya, and Lyman areas, as well as the western-most parts of the region near Novodonetske and Oleksandrivka.

For comparison, at the beginning of 2026, over 190,000 civilians remained in Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk Oblast, including 12,000 children.

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia will supply NO crude oil to European refiners next month after a drone attack forced the shutdown of its key East-West pipeline, Bloomberg reports. The supply cut reportedly applies to all European customers with long-term contracts.

The Italian Defence Minister announced that an Italian F-2000 Eurofighter aircraft was damaged in an Ansarallah attack on King Fahd Airbase in western Saudi Arabia.

Only in AMK Mapping Chat would the top two users for the week be a Russian and a Ukrainian respectively 😁

We don't like echo chambers here

A Ukrainian drone destroyed a Russian RM-48U modified S-400 ballistic missile launcher in Bryansk Oblast, which was likely involved in some of the recent attacks on Kyiv.

Coordinates: 53.134224, 33.944510

A short time ago, the IRGC launched around 4 anti-ship cruise missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz. Explosions were heard from coastal areas of southern Iran.

The number of Russian 🇷🇺 strikes against Ukrainian 🇺🇦 railway infrastructure has been rising a lot in recent months.

These strikes target locomotives, sometimes wagons, bridges, train stations are rail tracks.

Situation on the Stepnohirsk & Orikhiv directions, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

Over the last few weeks, Russian forces have continued their intensified assault operations, making substantial progress in several different areas, while significantly expanding their zone of infiltration.

In the west, Russian forces repelled earlier Ukrainian infiltrations to the northwestern outskirts of Kamyanske and recaptured the southern part of Plavni. They also cleared a number of positions along the highway north of Kamyanske and have begun expanding their zone of infiltration in Prymorske. Some Russian DRGs were even detected in the northern part of Prymorske. Some of these assault operations are taking place along the dried-up river bed of the Kakhovka Reservoir.

To the northeast, the Russians re-established control over the southern bank of the Sukhyy River and established a foothold just south of the town centre. Heavy fighting is now ongoing in the southwestern and eastern parts of the town as they attempt to reverse the earlier advances made by Ukraine and cut off the Ukrainian positions in the Plavni area. Additionally, they were able to improve their positions along the tactical heights southeast of Stepnohirsk, which has allowed Russia to intensify their infiltrations into the area of the solar panel farm and the treelines to the north. From here, DRGs have begun infiltrating the fields north of Stepnohirsk and the highway to the north, as well as the southwestern approaches to Mahdalynivka.

To the southeast, the Russians cleared the salient west of Stepove and recaptured positions along the southern bank of the gulley northwest of Stepove. From there, they are trying to assault Ukrainian strongpoints along the treelines northeast of Kamyanske from the south and west, while simultaneously trying to bypass them from the north in the direction of Lukyanivske and the solar panel farm.

To the northeast, Russian forces continued gradually expanding their zone of control north of Mali Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, where they were able to entrench in the treelines south of Pavlivka and infiltrate through the village and the surrounding areas. Other assault groups cleared the remaining treelines north of Shcherbaky and began advancing further north towards the fields east of Pavlivka. These advances have allowed Russian small infiltration groups and DRGs to significantly expand their zone of operations, following heavy KAB glide-bomb bombardment of Ukrainian positions. Russian infiltrators are now actively advancing northwest of Pavlivka towards Novoboikivske and north towards Novoyakovlivka. DRGs are infiltrating even further north towards Zapasne and the fields northeast of Mahdalynivka.

To the east, the Russians marginally advanced in the treelines northeast of Shcherbaky, and significantly intensified their infiltrations on the western flank of Orikhiv, entering the village of Novopavlivka in small numbers and beginning infiltrations north towards Zarichne and Yurkivka, along with the adjacent forests, following heavy KAB glide-bomb bombardment of Ukrainian positions.

+ ~33.57 km² in favour of Russia.

Interactive map: amkmapping.com

Situation on the Orikhiv direction, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

Over the last two weeks, fighting in the Orikhiv direction has continued to intensify as Russian forces continue their offensive operations on the city from multiple directions.

In the southwest, Russian forces cleared a number of advanced Ukrainian positions southwest of Novoandriivka and began continued their attacks towards the village from the south and west, where heavy fighting is ongoing for the forested areas near the settlement.

To the east, the Russians cleared additional parts of Novodanylivka and the forests north of the village which they subsequently began accumulating in. This allowed them to gain a foothold in the southeastern streets of Orikhiv, which they are now trying to expand by attacking towards the city centre under heavy artillery, MLRS, and KAB cover. Some infiltrations are also taking place north across the river into the neighbouring village of Preobrazhenka. However, Ukrainian forces are actively counterattacking both in Orikhiv itself and in Novodanylivka, trying to clear out the infiltrators and cut off their infiltration routes south of the city.

Further east, Russian forces began clearing the salient south of Mala Tokmachka, which is now largely in the grey-zone. They also improved their positions in Mala Tokmachka, capturing the town centre and expanding their zone of infiltrating in the rest of the town. Some soldiers continue to infiltrate north of the river into the nearby fields.

To the northeast, Russia intensified their assault operations, attempting to capture the tactical heights and fortifications in order to reach Orikhiv from the northeast and cut the highway leading from Omelnyk. Russian forces improved their positions in the treelines and forest plantations southwest of Charivne and began significantly expanding their zone of infiltration to the west, entering Chervona Krynytsya and reaching the large trench fortification to the south. Some DRGs have even managed to reach the Orikhiv-Omelnyk Highway.

Further northeast, the Russians continued to slowly clear out the forested areas west of Zaliznyche, continuing their advance north of the highway towards Omelnyk.

+ ~25.40 km² in favour of Russia.

Interactive map: amkmapping.com