Russian Forces Capture 2 More Donetsk Villages, Moscow Says

Meanwhile, both sides claimed gains near Donetsk’s flashpoint town of Dobropillia

Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar at Russian positions near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk on Aug. 26, 2025. Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP

Russian forces have captured Shandryholove and Zarichne (Kirovsk in Russian), two villages in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Moscow’s defense ministry.

“As a result of resolute actions, the Zapad [western] Group’s units liberated Shandryholove and Kirovsk,” the ministry said on its Telegram channel on Sept. 29.

Both villages sit northeast of Sloviansk—one of four fortified cities in Donetsk that together comprise what has been called Ukraine’s “fortress belt.”

Igor Kimakovsky, a top official with the Moscow-recognized Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said the capture of Zarichne would pave the way for a Russian advance on the city of Lyman, located roughly six miles to the southwest.

“With the liberation of Kirovsk [Zarichne], the defense of Ukrainian armed forces on the Krasny Liman [Lyman] front is faced with complete collapse,” he told Russia’s TASS news agency.

The fall of Lyman, in turn, would allow Russian forces to further advance—from the northwest—on the fortress-belt cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Kyiv has yet to confirm the loss of either Zarichne or Shandryholove, which The Epoch Times could not independently verify.

Dobropillia: Fighting Continues

In a Sept. 29 video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made no mention of either village.

Rather, he pointed to Dobropillia, another frontline town in Donetsk, where he said an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive had managed to wrest roughly 67 square miles back from Russian forces.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Kyiv’s top military commander, said Russian forces had taken more than 3,000 casualties—and lost hundreds of pieces of military hardware—during the weeks-long counteroffensive.

Writing on Telegram, Syrskyi further claimed that Russian units operating near Dobropillia—he did not say how many—had “found themselves surrounded.”

In mid-August, Russian forces operating in Donetsk staged a sudden thrust toward Dobropillia, which sits 14 miles north of the strategic city of Pokrovsk.

The abrupt advance raised alarm bells in Kyiv amid fears that Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian transit hub, stood on the verge of encirclement from the north.

After reinforcements were rushed to the area, including units from Kyiv’s Azov Battalion, Ukrainian officials declared that the Russian thrust had been stopped.

“The situation in the Dobropillia sector has stabilized,” Vadym Filashkin, Donetsk’s Kyiv-appointed regional governor, said at the time. “The frontline is ... holding.”

A Ukrainian soldier in Donetsk makes protective cages for military equipment to counter Russian drones on Sept. 16, 2025. Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images

Since then, fighting has continued to rage near the flashpoint town, with both sides claiming battlefield gains.

In mid-September, DPR head Denis Pushilin said Ukrainian forces operating in the area—including elite units—were being steadily ground down.

In remarks cited by TASS, he said that despite frequent Ukrainian counterattacks, “the salient made by our units in the Dobropillia direction remains.”

Nevertheless, last week, Syrskyi claimed that Russian offensives in the Donetsk region had failed to meet their objectives, further asserting that Russian forces were sustaining heavy losses.

“The Russians’ spring and summer campaign has effectively been disrupted,” he told reporters on Sept. 26.

On the same day, Zelenskyy, in reference to the Dobropillia sector, said that Russia “wanted to achieve one of their significant breakthroughs along the front, but our forces are neutralizing them.”

On Sept. 30, the DPR’s Pushilin pushed back on the Ukrainian claims, asserting that Russian forces operating near Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk in Russian) were “advancing in several key directions.”

“The enemy has claimed in the information space that it has erased … the Dobropillia bulge several times over,” he said in televised remarks cited by TASS.

“This is not true,” Pushilin added. “Our fighters keep holding their positions and expanding the area under their control.”

The Epoch Times could not independently verify battlefield claims made by either side of the conflict.

Reuters contributed to this report.