“Instead of appearing ready to end the war, the Russians are deploying all their means to attack the front,” reacted the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak.

Russian troops have advanced rapidly into a strategically important sector of the front in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian armed forces and analysts said today, days ahead of long-awaited talks between the United States and Russia.

The advance took place northeast of Pokrovsk, a mining town and the epicenter of fighting in Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian region that Moscow claims annexation of.

The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, de facto conceding the Russian advance in that zone, said today that fighting had taken place in Kucheriv Yar, a small village that a few weeks ago was still a few kilometers from the front line.

In just one day, Russia has advanced a dozen kilometers north along a road, according to DeepState, a military analysis website affiliated with the Ukrainian military. As the site points out, the pace of the Russian advance is much faster than usual.

A map of the front released by DeepState shows a narrow corridor that is now under Russian control, which poses a threat to Dobropilia, a town northwest of Pokrovsk where a garrison is stationed .

According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), “Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams are infiltrating zones near Dobropilia.”

The institute stressed, however, that it is “premature” to characterize the Russian advance as “operational infiltration” and that the next few days will “likely be critical.”

A Ukrainian military blogger, Sternenko, wrote on Telegram that the advance allowed Russian troops to seize some parts of a road linking major cities in the region. He had earlier said the situation was “critical.”

ISW compared this tactical infiltration to the one that had allowed, in April 2024, a major Russian advance after capturing the city of Avdiivka after a long and bloody battle.

Ukraine fears that Friday’s meeting between U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, which is so far expected to take place without the participation of their Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, could result in a deal that would force it to cede parts of its territory to Russia.

“Instead of appearing ready to end the war, the Russians are deploying all their means to attack on the front,” reacted the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak.