After Kremlin's Spring Offensive Flop, Russians Struggle To Hold and Fall Back

Ukrainian forces are now in the third stage of their 2026 success. In the first, they stopped the Russian late winter and then spring-summer offensives before they even began by destroying troop concentrations and vital logistics, preventing them from getting to the front. Then, the Ukrainians began counterattacking - in Orikhiv, Barova and other sectors.

Now, Russian troops are not just failing to advance, but are being pushed out of previously held positions, some of which they have held for years, as the combination of Ukrainian battleground advances with medium and long range drone or missile attacks further degrades their ability to defend what they have occupied. JL

Vlad Litnarovych reports in United24:

Russian forces are no longer struggling only to advance, but are having trouble holding some existing positions, falling back in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. “In Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, they are already retreating." That is why Moscow is trying to intensify the psychological and information pressure now (because) the Kremlin understands it cannot sustain the current intensity of missile strikes for long, operating near the peak of its missile capacity. Russia is trying to achieve through fear, hysteria, and intimidation what it has failed to achieve on the battlefield. (But) each new wave of attacks becomes less effective than the previous one, exposing the limits of Russia’s military capacity.

Russian forces are no longer struggling only to advance, but are also having trouble holding some of their existing positions, Ivan Tymochko, head of the Council of Reservists of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on May 26.

According to Tymochko, Russian troops are already falling back in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, despite Moscow’s attempts to present the battlefield situation as a growing offensive threat.

“In Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, they are already retreating, not advancing,” Tymochko said. 

He argued that the Kremlin understands it cannot sustain the current intensity of missile strikes for long. Each new wave of attacks, he said, may become less effective than the previous one, exposing the limits of Russia’s military capacity.

That is why Moscow is trying to intensify the psychological and information pressure now, Tymochko said, before it becomes clear that Russia cannot continue expanding the scale of its attacks.

He compared the current messaging campaign to previous Russian claims about a supposedly massive offensive in 2026.

“They were saying that Putin was going all-in, that the Donetsk region had to be surrendered because the Russians would break through the defense and be near Kyiv. And what do we have now? A failed spring campaign,” Tymochko said. 

According to him, Russia is currently operating near the peak of its missile strike capacity. To build up new missile stockpiles, the Kremlin needs time, resources, money, and production capacity.

“They cannot deliver more at once than they are delivering now,” he said.

Tymochko believes Russia’s main goal is to create panic and increase pressure not only on Ukraine, but also on Kyiv’s European partners. He said Kremlin threats about new strikes and calls to evacuate diplomats and foreign missions from Kyiv point to the possibility of attacks on civilian areas rather than purely military targets.

“They are deliberately threatening strikes on civilian facilities and residential buildings,” Tymochko said. 

He added that such rhetoric once again exposes the real nature of Russia’s war against Ukraine’s civilian population. Moscow, Tymochko argued, is trying to achieve through fear, hysteria, and intimidation what it has failed to achieve on the battlefield.

Earlier, the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade was officially recognized in the National Register of Records of Ukraine for its extraordinary 1500-Day defense of Mala Tokmachka.

Mala Tokmachka is a frontline village, located in the Zaporizhzhia region, that has become one of the longest-held defensive positions in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.