Human cost of Putin’s war emerging in ‘death fields’ of Russian soldiers in Dobropillia (Ukraine Battlefield update, day 1,700)
Moscow has concentrated its biggest force near Pokrovsk and faked new front lines on paper. Meanwwhile, the real battle around Dobropillia is reshaping how Europe must think about any ceasefire, which could lock in Russian gains
The battle for Dobropillia in images and maps, huge Russian losses and the brutal destruction of the city. The heaviest fighting is currently taking place on this section of the front. Following its defeat in the north near Lyman, the Russian command is now trying here, in the south, to bypass the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, since a direct attack from the east has also failed.
The Kremlin has currently deployed its largest forces to the area north-east of Pokrovsk, where it is trying to break through Ukrainian defences.
Described this way, it sounds highly technical. People can detach emotionally from information written in this manner and follow events merely as arrows on maps.
In reality, however, the arrows conceal tragedies that are very difficult to imagine. This week, visual evidence emerged that may better convey the scale of human suffering and losses on both sides.
The first shows the city of Dobropillia itself from the air after Russian bombardment that is slowly consuming it.
Roman Pataj is Head of the Opinion section at Denník N and, since 2022, the author of the Ukrainian Battlefield update. He graduated in political science and has worked as a journalist since 2002.
