Russia ramps up offensives on 2 fronts in Ukraine as both sides seek advantage before fall

An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, scattering Kyiv’s precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn.Moscow aims to maximize its territorial gains before seriously considering a full ceasefire, analysts and military commanders said.Ukraine wants to slow the Russian advance for as long as possible and extract heavy losses.Kremlin forces are steadily gaining ground in the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, the capture of which would hand them a major battlefield victory and bring them closer to acquiring the entire Donetsk region.

The fighting there has also brought combat to the border of the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time.In an effort to prevent Moscow from bolstering those positions in the east, Ukrainian forces are trying to pin down some of Russia’s best and most battle-hardened troops hundreds of kilometers away, in the northeast Sumy region.“The best-case scenario for Ukraine,” said Russian-British military historian Sergey Radchenko, “is that they’re able to stall or stop the Russian advance” in the Ukrainian industrial heartland known as Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.Then Ukraine could “use that as the basis for a ceasefire agreement.”“There’s a better chance for Russia to come to some kind of terms with Ukraine” in the fall when the Russians “see the extent of their offensive,” Radchenko added.While the battles rage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is waiting to learn whether the Trump administration will support tougher sanctions against Russia and back a European idea to establish a “reassurance force” to deter Moscow.

One setback came with the US decision to halt some weapons shipments out of concern over the US’s own depleted stockpiles.In the Sumy region, Ukrainian forces face a c...