Ukraine Attacks Force Russia To Use Strategic Reserves As Casualties Mount

The Kremlin is being forced to commit strategic national reserves from areas such as the border with China as Ukrainian attacks continue to disrupt Russia's putative spring offensive, inflicting casualties and gaining ground. 

This decision by the Kremlin is further evidence of the dire shape of the Russian military as it can no longer amass sufficient force to advance towards its announced objectives and must, instead, respond to the Ukrainian's initiative. JL

The Institute for the Study of War reports:

Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole directions are disrupting Russian efforts elsewhere in the frontline, including in the Pokrovsk area and the Fortress Belt, forcing the Russian military command to redeploy forces away from instead of toward their priority. They have made only limited advances near Hulyaipole in recent days despite reported Kremlin prioritization; rather, ISW has observed multiple instances of Ukrainian forces continuing to advance in this area. Russian forces appear to be deploying strategic reserves as Ukrainian forces continue to inflict increased casualty rates on Russia.

Russian forces are prioritizing offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction over defending against Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka direction but are not making significant advances west of Hulyaipole despite this prioritization. Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported on April 10 that the Russian military command appears to be prioritizing conducting offensive operations in the area of operations of the Russian 5th Combined Arms Army (CAA, Eastern Military District [EMD]), which comprises the area west of Hulyaipole, over stabilizing the situation in the areas of operations (AORs) of the 29th and 36th CAAs (both EMD), which include the Oleksandrivka direction.[6] Mashovets reported that the Russian military command has assessed that the Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka direction, which threaten the operational rear of the 5th CAA attempting to advance west of Hulyaipole toward Orikhiv, do not pose a sufficient threat for the Russian military command to reprioritize the defensive effort to the east over the offensive effort to the west. Russian forces have made only limited advances near Hulyaipole in recent days despite this reported prioritization; rather, ISW has observed multiple instances of Ukrainian forces continuing to advance in this area in recent days.[7] Mashovets noted that the Russian military command directed more reinforcements to the AOR of the 5th CAA, including elements of the 40th Naval Infantry Brigade (Pacific Fleet), 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (68th Army Corps [AC], EMD), and 38th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (35th CAA, EMD), while the command only redeployed elements of the 120th Naval Infantry Division (Baltic Fleet) and 69th Separate Covering Brigade (35th CAA) to the AORs of the 36th and 29th CAAs.[8] Mashovets noted that elements of the 120th Naval Infantry Regiment lead counterattacks toward Oleksandrohrad and Sichneve (both east of Oleksandrivka) and defensive efforts near Voskresnka (east of Sichneve) and Sichneve, but that this effort has not yielded gains for Russian forces, as Ukrainian forces continue counterattacking in the Pryluly-Varvarivka-Oleksandrivka area (north to northwest of Hulyaipole).

Russian forces are reportedly pulling from their strategic reserves to reinforce their efforts in Ukraine, but do not appear to be using these reserves to reinforce their identified priority effort in Donetsk Oblast. Mashovets reported that Russian forces appear to be deploying strategic reserves to the Oleksandrivka, Hulyaipole, and Zaporizhia directions, as the 5th CAA operating in the Hulyaipole direction and 58th CAA (Southern Military District [SMD]) fighting west of Orikhiv are in dire need of reinforcements.[9] Mashovets reported that the Russian military command intends to both increase the 5th CAA’s tempo of offensive operations in order to reach the Verkhnya Tersa-Hulyaipilske line (northwest to southwest of Hulyaipole) while defending against Ukrainian counterattacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also reported that Russian forces have likely begun committing strategic reserves, as Ukrainian forces continue to inflict similar casualty rates on Russian forces, but the size of the Russian force grouping in Ukraine continues to increase.[10] Zelensky noted that Russian forces set a deadline to seize Druzhkivka, Kostyantynivka, and Pokrovsk — the first two of which are part of Ukraine’s Fortress Belt line in Donetsk Oblast — by the end of April 2026.[11] Russian forces have largely taken Pokrovsk but will not meet this deadline for Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka, however. ISW continues to assess that Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole directions are disrupting Russian efforts elsewhere in the frontline, including in the Pokrovsk area and the Fortress Belt, especially as Russian forces continue efforts to gain momentum in the Spring-Summer 2026 offensive.[12] These counterattacks have presented the Russian military command with dilemmas that have overstretched Russian forces, including forcing the Russian military command to redeploy forces away from instead of toward their priority effort against the Fortress Belt, and the Russian military command appears to be trying to alleviate some of these dilemmas by pulling from strategic reserves.[13] Pulling from these reserves so far has not resulted in tactically-significant gains for Russia, however, and Ukraine appears to have forced Russia to field these reserves in an area far from its main operational objective for the spring-summer offens