Russia targets Ukrainian logistical lines to isolate Donbas 'fortress belt' ahead of offensive

Russian forces have been replicating elements of their successful battlefield air interdiction campaign from Summer-Fall 2025 to prepare for an upcoming offensive against the Fortress Belt in Donbas, according to a recent report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on August 3. The BAI strategy involves using aerial power to strike targets behind the frontline to disrupt enemy operations in the near term.

In late 2025, Russian forces executed a BAI campaign that partially achieved this effect, isolating Ukrainian logistics in Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole. The ISW noted that Russian forces employed a mix of drones, missiles, and glide bombs to target Ukrainian ground lines of communication, vehicles, training areas, railways, and to isolate the Ukrainian logistics in both Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole.

The primary objective of the current Russian BAI campaign is to isolate Ukrainian forces defending the Fortress Belt from sustained logistics. Russian forces have intensified their targeting of Ukrainian locomotives, which are crucial for logistics, and have received 1,000 Molniya fixed-wing loitering munitions in July 2026, with orders to escalate strikes against Ukrainian logistics in and around Kramatorsk.

The campaign also includes attacks on major bridges in the Fortress Belt area to further impede Ukrainian logistics. While Russian forces are unlikely to advance quickly to or through Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in the near future, their BAI campaign aims to prepare the battlefield for these planned offensive operations in the future.

According to a March 14 ISW analysis, the Donbas Fortress Belt, comprising Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk, is Russia's top strategic priority, with Moscow demanding its surrender without resistance. However, ISW analysts caution that Russia is currently unable to capture the entire Donetsk Oblast militarily by 2026, predicting only minor, incremental gains.

Bloomberg reported on June 27 that Russia is making Kramatorsk uninhabitable, but remains doubtful about capturing and holding the city. Russian forces are increasing pressure on the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk region, ramping up artillery shelling and drone strikes, according to recent DeepState analysis.