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Russia's Thousand Cuts Campaign Foiled Says Ukraine
By Reuters | 26 Sep, 2025

Ukraine stymied Russia's goal of capturing all of Donetsk, the objective of its spring and summer campaign, says Ukraine's military commander.

Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi speaks with lawmakers during a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine November 19, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo

Russia's spring and summer offensives this year have failed to meet their goals, Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said, adding that Russia was firing twice as much artillery as Ukraine on the battlefield.

"It can be said that the Russians' spring and summer campaign has effectively been disrupted," Syrskyi told reporters at a meeting.

Syrskyi said Russian plans to create a "buffer zone" in Sumy and Kharkiv regions, take the city of Pokrovsk and capture all of Donetsk region had failed.

The capture of all of Donetsk is a key aim of the war for Russia, which currently controls over 70% of the region and has been grinding slowly forwards.

Syrskyi said that since the beginning of summer the Russians had been attacking with a tactic that he called "a thousand cuts" - a high number of tiny infantry assaults.

"This consists of the simultaneous use of a large number of small assault groups – 4-6 servicemen who advance using the terrain, ravines, and wooded areas, with the main aim of penetrating as deeply as possible into our territory."

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Aidan Lewis)