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- Russian forces have their sights set on the last two free cities in the sliver of Donetsk Oblast still under Ukrainian control: Sloviansk and Kramatorsk
- Having captured Pokrovsk, the Russians aim to march on the twin cities from the south
- They’re also planning an east-to-west assault toward the cities
- But a major Ukrainian strongpoint is blocking that planned westerly attack: Hill 207
- Unable to take the heavily defended hill by direct assault, the Russians are now trying to surround and cut off the hill’s defenders
While Ukrainian forces press their counteroffensive in the southeastern sector of the 1,200-m front line of Russia’s 48-month wider war on Ukraine, Russian forces are preparing for their own offensive farther north. Specifically, they’re planning to drive toward Sloviansk from the east, probably as soon as the weather warms up.
But there’s at least one major obstacle in their planned path: a heavily fortified hill just south of the ruins of Siversk and 25 km east of Sloviansk, one of the twin free cities in western Donetsk Oblast. The preparatory fight around Hill 207 could determine whether the Russians can strike at Sloviansk and neighboring Kramatorsk from the east … or must march on the twin cities from the ruins of Pokrovsk, 45 km south of Kramatorsk.
The shorter eastern approach might seem easier for the Russian, on paper. But the Ukrainian 10th Mountain Brigade, entrenched on Hill 207, is doing its best to complicate the coming Russian offensive. If Hill 207 holds and Ukrainian forces block a south-to-north march on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the twin cities could remain out of Russia’s reach well into 2027.
The main battle for Donetsk Oblast will be fought over Sloviansk and Kramatorsk — the last major cities under Ukrainian control in the region. Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops for that offensive, according to DeepState military analysts. Hill 207 sits directly in their eastern path.
“The disruption of the enemy’s summer offensive will lead to a prolonged loss of offensive capabilities, depletion of resources, and will provide a real chance to end the war,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies predicted.
Attacking uphill is always hard. Attacking uphill on foot is even harder. And having parked most of their armored vehicles in order to save them from drone attacks, the Russians almost always attack on foot these days. That makes Hill 207 an extremely difficult objective for a direct assault.
So in order to set conditions for a wider attack toward Sloviansk in the coming months, the Russian 3rd Army Corps set out to surround Hill 207 and starve out its stubborn garrison. The 3rd Army Corps sent its 88th Motor Rifle Brigade toward Riznykivka, a village just northeast of Hill 207. The Russian brigade succeeded in capturing the village in early February but then “stalled,” according to observer Thorkill.
“The exhausted Russian units have effectively transitioned to defense there,” Thorkill added.
The southern assault
A parallel attack south of Hill 207 is going much better for the Russians. The 3rd Army Corps’ 85th Motorized Rifle Brigade has infiltrated the village of Nykyforivka, just south of Hill 207, edging out Ukrainian troops from the 30th Mechanized Brigade around 20 February. A few days later, the Ukrainians counterattacked.
Now the situation is in flux. And the 10th Mount Brigade troopers, peering down from their hilltop redoubt, are surely closely watching—and worrying. They’ve proved they can hold Hill 207 against a direct assault. But if the Russians advance through Nykyforivka and get behind Hill 207, the hill’s defenders may have no choice but to evacuate to safer positions farther west.
That would remove a major impediment to Russian forces’ coming offensive toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainians may not be able to hold Hill 207 forever, but the longer they hold, the more they’ll disrupt the Russians’ plans.
The 10th Mountain Brigade isn’t the only Ukrainian unit fighting to spoil a planned Russian offensive. A pair of Ukrainian battlegroups are slowly pushing back the Russian 36th Combined Arms Army at the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts in the southeast.
While the Ukrainians’ gains in the southeast may seem minor, they do have the effect of buying space and time for the wider Ukrainian force to dig in between the front line and Zaporizhzhia City, 80 km to the west. The Russians have their sights set on that city, too, but every meter they surrender to the attacking Ukrainian battlegroups makes their planned march to the west that much harder.
Ukraine’s southeastern counteroffensive is now recapturing villages Russia once firmly held
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