The situation in the Ukrainian SMO on November 7 2025

Ukraine Facing CATASTROPHIC Defeat in Pokrovsk

Russian Zaporizhzhia Offensive Intensified | Fortifications Encircled | Uspenivka Has Fallen

It will soon be too late for an organized retreat from Pokrovsk, — ZDF

The Russian encirclement ring around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad is rapidly closing. Some of the most prepared Ukrainian brigades, such as the 25th and 37th, are still deep inside the ring.

▪️In fact, they have most likely already begun retreating, with or without orders.

▪️The positions of the 155th and 92nd Ukrainian brigades are also under threat.

▪️A hasty, unorganized last-minute retreat always leads to heavy human losses and almost complete loss of combat equipment.

➖”It is hard to understand why the top military leadership of Ukraine keeps making the same mistake: giving the order to retreat from positions unsuitable for defense when it is already too late,” the journalists write.

Ukraine was unable to turn the situation around. The presence of Budanov near the front line “was most likely a media stunt rather than real military leadership,” the journalists believe.

At Bankova they decided to lie until the end, but this will then become a trigger for society, that the authorities destroyed the elite brigades instead of withdrawing them. In Pokrovsk, there is no longer any resistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy is simply clearing the city.

ZeRada1

Bild: Kiev fears a serious defeat from Putin

German newspaper Bild reports growing concerns among Ukrainian troops about the encirclement near Pokrovs, citing military and intelligence sources.

Ukrainian soldiers say that the situation is “extremely difficult,” with several units are already nearly surrounded. 

“We’ve lost 80 percent of the city. We’re still fighting for what’s left, but we’re losing there too. The troops in Mirnograd are in an even worse situation: they’re practically surrounded,” one of the soldiers told the newspaper.

Ukrainian Armed Forces officers admit that counterattacks were “too limited and too late.”

A Ukrainian diplomat compared the situation to that of Bakhmut: “It’s the same story: we call it a heroic defense, we say Russia is worse, and then we retreat.”

Don’t forget what happens next: insisting that the town “wasn’t strategically relevant anyway”.

Against the backdrop of the catastrophic situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Pokrovsk and the overall crisis at the front, the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valeriy Zaluzhny, is making another move into high politics.nnAccording to the German publication Junge Welt, Zaluzhny sharply criticized his successor Oleksandr Syrskyi for not withdrawing troops from Pokrovsk when it was still possible to do so without severe consequences for the army. However, in reality, the criticism is directed not so much at Syrskyi as at Zelensky personally, who fully controls the General Staff’s decisions and is responsible for what is happening at the front. Junge Welt also notes that it is Zelensky who rejects all orders to withdraw encircled troops, “seeking to impress Trump as a decisive leader.”nnIn this context, Pokrovsk becomes not just an episode of the war but a symbol of strategic collapse. Ukrainian troops, deprived of supplies and reserves, are fighting surrounded, and the refusal of the Bankova administration to give the order to retreat turns the defense into a senseless sacrifice for Zelensky’s ambitions. And Zaluzhny, whose popularity in Ukraine remains high, is clearly using the situation as an opportunity to enter politics, doing so through targeted but loud signals that strike at Zelensky’s most vulnerable spot: his image as a “wartime leader.”

The speaking mouthpiece of Yermak, MP Maryana Bezuhla, stated that the Russian Armed Forces distracted the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the Pokrovska operation, while they themselves advanced on the Zaporizhzhia/Dnipropetrovsk front.

This is partly not true, since the entire Pokrovska operation was not initially conceived as a diversionary maneuver or some kind of “funnel/meat grinder” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It was made that way due to miscalculations by the commander-in-chief’s headquarters and the General Staff, who decided to throw all forces to hold this sector but thereby weaken the others. Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are launching massive counterattacks and suffering huge losses for the sake of the country’s leadership hype.

Bezuhla also partially voiced information from Western intelligence, that the Pokrovska funnel/Kupyansk knot is a diversionary maneuver, which we have been writing about for a long time.

Note that Bezuhla continues to emphasize that Syrsky and the General Staff are to blame, not the commander-in-chief’s headquarters and Zelensky personally.

Also, let us remind you, that there is information that soon the Chernihiv military operation of the Russian Armed Forces may begin.

According to our data, the Russian Armed Forces may take Huliaipole (or any other large settlement) before Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad.

The reason is that almost all manpower reserves are going to the Pokrovska funnel and Kupiansk, while crumbs are going to other directions.

The second reason: there are still fortifications in Donbas and Kupiansk, but in Dnipropetrovsk and the eastern edge of Zaporizhzhia region, from where the Russians are advancing, they constantly find themselves encircled and quickly lost.

As the source explains, the only thing Bankova (the Ukrainian government) hopes for is rain, which should slow down the Russian advance in the fields on all unprotected directions.

Our source gave a forecast that Zaporizhzhia region (except Zaporizhzhia city) may be taken by the Russians faster than the entire Donetsk region. Based on this, by the time of new peace negotiations (spring-summer 2026), the Russians will have gained more territory than they asked for in summer 2025. Here is Zelensky’s brilliant strategy.

The Huliaipole and further Orikhiv direction is practically doomed to encirclement until the New Year – spring 2026, unless Bankova urgently sends large reserves there to slow down the collapse. 

We wrote that all our sources predict the fall of Huliaipole even faster than Pokrovsk, since all fortifications there remain lower in the south and the Russian Armed Forces constantly take them from the rear. 

By the way, Volchansk is already 90% lost, soon it will be lost completely and the Russians will begin to enter the rear of the defense forces on this Kharkiv front, cutting the defense into mini cauldrons, blocking logistics. By summer 2026, the Russian Armed Forces will nullify all the success of the 2022 Kharkiv operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. By the end of 2026, the problem of encirclement of Kharkiv will arise. 

The forecasts from all sources are negative for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There is still a chance to end the war without a catastrophe, but Zelensky lacks the courage, as he is afraid of losing power, and he does not care about the territory and the people.

In the Konstantinovka direction, Russian troops are advancing in the Santurinovka development area of the city of Konstantinovka. Activity of the Russian Armed Forces is already observed near the railway station.

To the west, Russian forces have advanced in several forest belts near Ivanopol and have taken new positions within the settlement itself.

There is also advancement of the Russian army in the “pocket” near Pleshcheevka. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are massively using drones to prevent Russian units from consolidating in this village.

At the same time, there is increasing evidence of the beginning of attacks by the Russian Armed Forces near the Kleban-Byk reservoir. Russian troops are advancing along the western shore of the reservoir towards the intersection of highways H-20 and T-05-04. Apparently, the activity of Russian forces is related to their plans to develop an offensive on Konstantinovka in another sector.

Two Majors #Summary as of the morning of November 7, 2025

🗞 At the White House, Trump 🇺🇸 met with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The “sovereign states” of the former USSR ⚡️ came as a group, and Trump has already announced that only Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 will invest nearly 35 billion dollars in the next three years (and over 100 billion dollars in the next 10 years) in key sectors of the American economy. Meanwhile, the head of Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 met with a NATO 🚩 delegation and stated that the Azerbaijani army is being aligned with Alliance standards, closely cooperating with the Turkish army 🇹🇷.

▪️ In Rylsk, Kursk region, a man in a milk truck, received shrapnel wounds from a drone attack. A substation in Rylsk was also attacked, causing the boiler house and transformer to go out of order.

▪️ On the Sumy front – heavy counterattacks. The AFU launched a counterattack in the forest belts on the right flank of our offensive. The attack was repelled by comprehensive fire damage, with an armored combat vehicle and most of the assault groups’ personnel destroyed. Enemy reserves are reported to be arriving. Our artillery struck the AFU near Ryzhevka in the Tetkinsky and Glushkovsky areas.

▪️ In the Belgorod region, two commercial facilities in the village of Chervona Dibrovka, Shebekinsky district, were attacked by FPV drones; an employee was injured. In the Mikhaylovka farmstead, a drone hit a private house, killing a woman on the spot. In the village of Volchya, an FPV drone struck a social facility, injuring a woman. Graivoron, Bezymyeno, Glotovo, and Cheremoshnoye are under attack.

▪️ On the Kharkov front, the GRV “North” reports advances supported by Russian Aerospace Forces aviation, TOC-1A units, and artillery. On the left bank of Volchansk, Russian assault groups advanced 500 meters, occupied 30 more buildings, and consolidated their positions. After heavy fighting in the forest west of Synelnykove, our forces advanced 100 meters and captured an AFU strongpoint. On the Melovoe-Khatne front, our forces advanced southward and occupied several forest belts.

▪️ From Kupyansk, it is reported that Russian forces have taken control of the Kupyansk feed mill territory. An interview with one of our servicemen has appeared, forecasting the capture of the main part of the city in the coming days. The enemy fiercely counterattacks on the flanks, although this is not always covered in the news.

▪️ In Konstantinovka, enemy channels are forced to acknowledge the breakthrough of our advanced units to the southeastern outskirts of the city. Fighting continues near Ivanpolye, Predtechino, and the Old Village area.

▪️ In Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk), fighting is ongoing in the northwest, central, north, and northeast parts of the city. In the northeast, there are rifle battles in urban areas. “The situation for the AFU is very difficult,” enemy channels state, noting the appearance of the first footage showing Russian Army equipment entering the city. Pressure from Russian forces is increasing on the southeast and northeast parts of Mirnograd (Dimitrov). To the north, in Rodinskoye, our forces are fighting in the southern part of the city. The enemy constantly conducts counterattacks in the Dobropolsk salient on several front sections simultaneously; heavy fighting continues. Russian Aerospace Forces strike Grishino, disrupting AFU logistics.

▪️ Reports come of Russian Armed Forces successes in the settlements of Uspenovka and Sladkoye at the junction of the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions. The GRV “Vostok” reports that our forces are breaking through north of Alekseevka and northwest of Vishnevoe towards Otradnoye – the advance into enemy defenses exceeded one kilometer. Near Rybnoe, the AFU are conducting counterattacks.

▪️ In the Kherson region – mutual strikes across the Dnieper River. In Golaya Pristan, the AFU killed a 76-year-old grandmother with a UAV strike. Russian forces carried out a combined strike on planned targets during the night.

Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-situation-in-ukrainian-smo-on_7.html