
The biggest news story this week has been the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Technically, it was not a dismissal: following the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, the entire cabinet was automatically dissolved, and Fedorov was not invited to join the new administration. Publicly, however, he has already been blamed for failing to reform the territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) and the broader mobilization system. In recent weeks, clashes between civilians and TCC personnel have escalated. For instance, a riot against forced recruitment erupted in Lviv on July 8, and on July 14, recruitment officers assaulted a woman while attempting to detain a man.

Over the past several days, there have been virtually no significant changes along the frontline. Fighting for the town of Kostiantynivka continues, and new footage has emerged showing Russian flags, indicating that the Russian Armed Forces have reached the northern outskirts of the town.

Over the past several days, the frontline has remained largely unchanged, with most developments centered on aerial strikes.

On July 3 evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the "complete liberation" of Kostiantynivka. In reality, this is, of course, not the case. It is worth noting that part of our team and several Western analysts had assessed that most of Kostiantynivka would likely fall by mid-summer—now less than a week away. Over the past week, however, the situation has changed very little. We currently assess that the southwestern part of the town, marked in gray on the DeepState map, has been captured and is under Russian control (marked as "red"). The same is true for the northeastern outskirts. The rest of the town is contested territory, with Ukrainian forces still present and heavy fighting ongoing. In an optimistic scenario for...

The Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed the capture of the villages of Pysantsi and Novoskeliuvate in the Dnipropetrovsk region, both located along the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia highway. If the Russian Armed Forces establish control over a section of this highway, it would complicate logistics for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Oleksandrivka direction, including in the border area between the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Reports have recently emerged regarding the alleged withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kinburn Spit and increased activity by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area. Supply difficulties caused by increasingly frequent Ukrainian drone strikes on occupied territories and the land bridge to Crimea were cited as the primary reason.

In the Sloviansk direction, a video captured a close-quarters engagement in the village of Zakitne, most of which is under Russian control. The footage shows a Ukrainian soldier hiding in the ruins of a private house confronting three Russian servicemen who appear to have been checking or clearing the area. The Ukrainian soldier first threw a grenade at the group and then opened fire with small arms. Two of the Russian soldiers were killed, while a third was wounded but managed to escape.

Russian servicemen have published flag-raising videos filmed in the village of Rai-Oleksandrivka, southeast of the city of Sloviansk. This sector of the front has seen relatively little movement in recent months. During the winter and early spring, the Russian Armed Forces advanced steadily in the area following the capture of the town of Siversk, but the pace of the offensive later slowed considerably, apparently after Russian forces reached prepared Ukrainian defensive positions. Despite Russian claims that the videos confirm the capture of Rai-Oleksandrivka, we believe they are more indicative of continued infiltration than of successful consolidation of control over the village. Topographic maps show that Russian forces approached...

With only two weeks remaining until the end of June, it is already possible to draw some preliminary conclusions from the past two months, which have highlighted the growing challenges facing the Russian Armed Forces. As noted earlier, the pace of Russian advances in May was exceptionally slow. Although the rate of advance has picked up somewhat in June, the increase has not been significant enough to suggest any fundamental shift in the trend. Nor is there much reason to expect the Russian offensive to accelerate dramatically over the remaining weeks of the month.

Of all sectors of the frontline, the Kostiantynivka direction is currently the most concerning for Ukrainian forces. Even so, DeepState's maps have shown little more than an expansion of the contested area in recent weeks. In early June, that zone spread to both the eastern and western outskirts of Kostiantynivka. In our view, however, those areas can already be considered partially captured, and the situation in the town is becoming increasingly dangerous for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. What is unfolding increasingly resembles the battle for the town of Pokrovsk, when for many months the Ukrainian side declined to acknowledge—and DeepState's analysts declined to reflect on their maps—that the gradual infiltration of Russian assault...