Ukraine front line grows to 1,250 kilometers as Russia shifts tactics, top commander says

KYIV, Ukraine — The front line on the battlefield has grown to about 1,250 kilometers (800 miles) in length, stretching Kyiv’s defenses as Russian forces adopt a new tactic, Ukraine’s top military commander said. The line of contact has lengthened by roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles) over the past year, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi told reporters during a briefing in the capital. Ukrainian forces are averaging between 160 and 190 combat engagements each day with Russia’s larger army, he said, underscoring the intensity of ongoing fighting. Syrskyi described a shift in Russian tactics since the start of summer from costly, large-scale offensives to deploying swarms of small assault groups intended to infiltrate Ukrainian lines.

Those groups, comprising about four to six soldiers, use terrain for concealment to breach the front line and strike Ukrainian rear areas, disrupting supply lines and troop rotations, Syrskyi said. He cautioned that such squads often become cut off and are trapped by encircling Ukrainian units. He added that Russia is firing roughly twice as many artillery shells as Ukrainian forces, a disparity that underscores the importance of Ukrainian air defense and rapid countermeasures. In a recent push, Ukrainian forces reportedly regained control of 168 square kilometers (65 square miles) of land.

Ukraine’s long-range strike program has inflicted heavy damage on Russian military and industrial assets in recent weeks, Syrskyi said. The country’s newly created Unmanned Systems Forces carried out 85 strikes inside Russia in less than two months, including 33 strikes against military sites and 52 on plants that produce weapons, ammunition, engines, rocket fuel and drones. He credited the strikes with triggering a fuel shortage inside Russia that is hampering logistics and army supplies.

With winter approaching and Russia expected to escalate its attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, Kyiv is strengthening its air-defense system by combining interceptor drones, helicopters, light aircraft and electronic-warfare assets. The improved interceptors take down Russian attack drones at least 70% of the time, Syrskyi said, and Ukraine is testing light, fixed-wing aircraft armed with machine guns as an additional counter-drone measure.

U.S. President Donald Trump, whose attempts to broker an end to the war have seen little progress, said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could turn the tide and win back all the territory it has lost to Russia, roughly 20% of its land.