This story was commissioned by Euromaidan Press. Since Substack pays only around a fifth of my bills, I have no choice but to take on a lot of freelance work. I still want my Substack audience to know where to read those freelance stories, however. Hence this excerpt.
by DAVID AXE
Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are the last two big cities in the Donbas that Russia does not hold, and taking them has been the main Russian objective in eastern Ukraine since 2022. Ukraine is now moving forces north from the southeast to defend them.
The 46th Air Mobile Brigade began that move in July. The first outside confirmation came this week.
Shifting north to plug a gap between two Ukrainian corps, the brigade could protect adjacent units as they retreat a short distance from what’s left of Chasiv Yar—a battleground since the spring of 2024—and straighten the Ukrainian line where the 11th and 19th Corps meet. Both corps now sit under Biletskyi’s new force grouping, according to Unit Observer—a command relationship no Ukrainian outlet has reported and which open sources cannot independently confirm.
Zooming out, the reshuffle around Kostiantynivka runs alongside a wider effort to redistribute Ukrainian troops along the 1,200-km gray zone threading through southern, eastern, and northern Ukraine. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi took over as commander-in-chief on July 22, arriving with a mandate to unwind the Soviet-inherited command model Ukraine has fought this war with, and a reputation for favoring decentralized command. The 46th began moving before he did, in early July, according to Unit Observer, so this redeployment is not his. But the 33rd Assault Regiment was partially reassigned to Biletskyi’s corps after the handover.
The best-case scenario is that the redeployment helps stabilize the front 16 km south of Kramatorsk, delaying the Russian siege of that city and Sloviansk to the north. In the worst case, the 46th Air Mobile Brigade and its thousands of troops are too few and too late to make much of a difference as the Center Group of Forces and its tens of thousands of troops grind through Ukrainian defenses on their slow march toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The 46th Air Mobile Brigade spent years fighting in southeastern Ukraine. But it’s arguably no longer needed along the southern end of the gray zone after a Ukrainian counteroffensive that kicked off in February halted and then rolled back Russian forces, stabilizing what was once Ukraine’s most vulnerable flank.
Free to fight elsewhere, the brigade began its move north toward Kostiantynivka and Chasiv Yar two months ago. The move happened almost entirely in secret. “Strict OPSEC measures have become the standard for the Ukrainian armed forces in 2026,” mapper Unit Observer noted, “with units delaying posts up to several months to avoid giving away their relocation along the front line.”
That discipline is now visible across the whole Ukrainian effort. The southeastern counteroffensive that freed up this brigade ran for six months with very few videos and small teams. Ukraine’s Swedish radar planes flew combat sorties for half a year before the defense ministry said so. A brigade crossing the front unremarked for two months is the same practice, applied to ground forces.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
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