Autumn offensive: Brutal forest battle forces Russian retreat

Today, the biggest news comes from the Vovchansk direction, where Ukrainian forces are pushing back against Russia’s western pincer.

The operation began inside the forests near Synelnykove, where Ukrainian reconnaissance troops moved directly against a network of Russian dugouts hidden beneath the tree cover. The footage shows Ukrainian troops clearing one dugout after another, as taking the first shelter still left nearby Russian soldiers in position and forced the assault group to keep moving through the forest until the entire defensive pocket was cleared. Once the fighting ended, Ukrainian troops occupied the captured positions and collected rifles, documents, and mobile phones, giving them access to messages and unit locations about the Russian forces operating in the area. This removed another Russian foothold inside the forest and gave Ukrainian forces control of the dugouts that had allowed Russian troops to remain concealed west of Synelnykove.

The fighting took place roughly five kilometers southwest of central Vovchansk, in the forests immediately west of Synelnykove, where Russian forces are trying to move around the Ukrainian defenses.By advancing through these forests, the Russians are trying to widen their western bridgehead around Vovchansk and push deeper behind the Ukrainian positions, giving them more room to expand the offensive south and southwest of the city. The forest is well suited for this approach, as small Russian groups can move under cover, establish dugouts, and gradually extend their presence without crossing large areas of exposed ground. Clearing these positions removes footholds that Russian troops could use to push the western pincer farther around Vovchansk.

The biggest Russian mistake is that their command is already treating scattered infiltration groups and isolated footholds as consolidated territorial gains. Just as around Lyman, Russian maps are showing control over areas where only a handful of soldiers have managed to penetrate, creating a gap of more than twenty kilometers between the line claimed by Russian commanders and the positions they actually hold. In the forests west of Synelnykove, this creates problems almost immediately, as Russian commanders can send reinforcements and supplies along routes they already consider secure, even though Ukrainian troops are still able to move through parts of the same area.

Drone teams and artillery can also be assigned according to positions that exist on the map rather than on the ground, leaving forward Russian groups with less support than expected. This turns the apparent depth of the western pincer into a weakness, as Ukrainian forces can move through the gaps and attack isolated Russian footholds one by one.

Ukraine is now exploiting that weakness by systematically clearing the forest, with reconnaissance identifying isolated Russian positions before assault groups move in to clear the dugouts and use the captured ground to support further movement.

Once one pocket is removed, nearby Russian groups become more exposed and harder to support, allowing the Ukrainian clearing operation to continue deeper into the forest. This prevents Russian infiltrators from joining together into a continuous defensive line and forces Russian commanders to send additional troops back into areas they had already counted as captured. Instead of using those footholds to keep extending the western pincer, Russia is being forced to secure the ground behind them, turning the battle west of Vovchansk into Operation Vivaldi two point zero.

Overall, Ukraine’s clearing operations west of Synelnykove are forcing Russia to properly secure areas it had already claimed as captured, which means linking its scattered positions and protecting the routes between them. This increases the burden of maintaining the western pincer and makes its forward groups harder to support whenever the line on Russian maps moves ahead of the troops actually holding the ground. The same mechanism defined Operation Vivaldi around Lyman, where Ukraine exploited the gap between infiltration and genuine control before Russian forces could consolidate their advance. Russia now has to choose between slowing the push to close those gaps or continuing forward while leaving exposed positions behind for Ukrainian troops to clear.