Analysis: With all eyes on Pokrovsk, Russia drives forward in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Francis Farrell

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While Ukraine, Russia, and the world have been watching the dramatic final act of the Battle of Pokrovsk unfold, Russian gains in the eastern parts of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts — a section of the frontline that has been dynamic but chronically overlooked — have picked up speed.

On November 11th, the same day that Russia’s wretched Mad Max–style convoy of troops was filmed entering Pokrovsk through the fog, the Ukrainian military announced its withdrawal from five villages north of the small city of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, amid a deteriorating and chaotic defense of the area.

These Russian advances represent only the latest escalation in a broader offensive that has been ongoing since last winter, when Russian forces overran the vast open plains in the south of what remained of Ukrainian-controlled neighbouring Donetsk Oblast.

Remarkably, throughout 2025, the part of the front line where Russia has gained the most territory — these wide open spaces around the meeting point of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts — has also been one of the most under-reported.

These lands, known in Ukrainian as the dyke pole, or “wild field,” have been sparsely populated for centuries, going back to the times when Zaporizhzhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars jostled for territory and influence, or when Ukrainian anarchist warlord Nestor Makhno made Huliaipole his home base during the period of revolution and war that followed World War I.

The territory crisscrossed by meandering minor rivers but lacking any large population centres, is so empty that there is no obvious name for the sector to use, neither in official General Staff reports, nor in this article.

Whatever it is called, the defense of the area has long been de-prioritized both in Ukraine’s defense and in the eyes of the world’s attention.

But that looks to be changing very fast, as the price of ignoring the territory is catching up with Kyiv — and the defense of the entire Zaporizhzhia front line could soon be in serious jeopardy.