09/06/2026
Interview with the commander of the 107th Brigade of the Ukrainian Defense Forces
The Russian occupation army has found itself in an operational stalemate created by the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Because of this, the front has effectively “stuck”, and the enemy has no chance, even theoretically, to break through the front. Currently, a regrouping of forces on both sides is underway.
What will happen next, in the fall and winter? The enemy’s actions will largely depend on weather conditions and the state of the soil, but he will certainly act more actively in the south of Ukraine, as well as in the Kupyansk area. This forecast was voiced by the commander of the 107th Territorial Defense Brigade, Denis Perch “Koreyets”, in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA.
– How do you assess the current state of hostilities? We are currently witnessing a war of attrition, which has actually been going on for quite some time. But we also see that, despite the fact that the enemy is throwing a colossal amount of manpower, the front line is actually not moving. Can we say that this process is actually gradually coming to a standstill?
– I do not believe that the process is heading towards freezing. Now there is a phase of regrouping of both our troops and the enemy’s troops. In fact, the enemy is spending a huge resource. But let’s face it. He has been spending this huge resource since the beginning of 2022, and this cannot indicate anything.
The situation on the front line has arisen due to the fact that many of the means that were used for defeat are no longer used due to the fact that there are options for countering them – from both sides, both us and the enemy. In addition, indeed at the moment the enemy is somehow approaching large agglomerations and our most fortified defense areas. Most likely, this is more like an operational stalemate, which is why a war of attrition is taking place, rather than some kind of formed freeze in hostilities.
– Who is more beneficial to this operational stalemate – us or the enemy? Or is it beneficial to no one?
– Since we have created this operational deadlock for the enemy, we will definitely take advantage of this opportunity, and sooner or later, we will deliver counter-offensive strikes. In some areas of the front, we are already conducting counter-offensive actions, including quite significant successes, which have already been reported in the media. Unfortunately, I cannot say more about what is being prepared, what our plans are, etc. I can only say more about the enemy.
So, we really created an operational deadlock for the enemy, perhaps deliberately driving him into this situation, understanding that he no longer has any options for countering it and developing operational success. At the moment, the enemy is quite limited in options . Apart from burning even more meat resources, he has no other options. Of course, the enemy still has the option to “shake up” the battlefield, find some new centers for the deployment of new mini-conflicts or escalation.
– Do you mean that the enemy, as before, will continue to look for weak spots in our defenses, and if he finds one, he will throw additional forces there?
– This is the principle of combined arms combat – the enemy is constantly looking for weak spots in the defense, and as soon as he finds such spots, he begins to throw all his forces and resources there. This is what military textbooks say – concentrated firepower is needed in the place that is the weakest. That is, the greatest amount of force should be applied where the enemy’s weakest spot is.
In short: there is a high probability of a negotiation pause now, but the war has definitely not entered a freeze, and the baseline scenario is a high-intensity positional war with an almost stable front line.
– Putin has set his military the task of occupying the entire Donetsk region at any cost. At the same time, we see that he has actually hit a dead end. In your opinion, what can he do, what other forces and means can he use to achieve this goal as soon as possible? Do you see a certain resource in the enemy?
– To date, there is no information about the enemy accumulating forces in sufficient quantities to break through our defense line. Moreover, the enemy’s accumulation does not even allow him to hold his defense line on certain sections of the front. Therefore, there can be no question that in the near future the enemy may break through the defense line somewhere, especially in the Donetsk region.
– What do you think about Kostyantynivka? Have we already lost it? Can the city still be saved?
– It is probably possible to save the city, but let’s be objectively realistic. Today, it is already a rather broken city that does not have any resources for further existence. This, unfortunately, is just a territory where both the Defense Forces and the enemy troops are currently stationed. Moreover, the enemy, having bitter experience fighting with us in large cities, did not go to this city with its main forces. He found detours, trying to take this city in his hands. Now he is trying to impose this tactic on our troops and carry out precisely such actions.
However, the city is not yet lost. Kostyantynivka is also under the control of the Defense Forces. If events develop positively, the city may come under our full control.
– Regarding the “belt of fortresses”, the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration. We see that here, as in other sections of the front, the enemy is using his usual tactics: semi-encirclement with an attempt to close this cauldron. In your opinion, what could go wrong on this section of the front?
– First of all, we can already predict the enemy’s actions, because he mostly acts in a pattern. I think that the relevant groups of our troops have already taken into account this enemy tactic. This is the first thing. Secondly, today the creation of a semi-encirclement in individual cities is completely different from the creation of a semi-encirclement in high-altitude cities with a pre-prepared defense system, which we have now.
The Slavyansk-Kramatorsk belt, which the enemy is approaching, is that powerful element of the defense system, which was prepared in advance and in the preparation of which the peculiarities of the enemy’s tactics were taken into account. The only thing the enemy is trying to do is either to stretch or cut off certain logistical connections in order to prevent us from taking full advantage of these previously prepared defensive lines.
– A question about Kupyansk. The city was liberated in September 2022, then in November 2025 Putin announced that the occupation forces had supposedly taken the city, but the reality was completely different. However, now we are seeing new attempts by the enemy to infiltrate. Can we say with confidence that Kupyansk is no longer threatened by occupation?
– There are no signs of imminent capture or operational encirclement at the moment. I would define the current situation as complex, controlled, but perhaps not entirely stable. From open sources, there are mainly positional and infiltration battles taking place there, but in an extremely saturated drone environment. There are no prepared, armored assaults. The enemy, as everywhere, is starting small infantry groups, trying to accumulate them, and then create isolated cells, using KABs and FPV drones.
– According to your forecasts, how will events develop in this direction in the fall and winter? Can the enemy radically change its tactics during the cold season?
– As for the enemy’s plans, I think that, most likely, the enemy will try to gain a penetration path to the northern part of Kupyansk and control it. At the same time, they will put pressure on Kupyansk-Vuzlovy. Most likely, they will cut and gradually eliminate our bridgehead on the left bank of the Oskil River, create not a classic encirclement, but functional isolation with fire and drones, in order to force our units to reduce the position of a frontless assault.
The high tactical level of threat is the north of Kupyansk. There, Russian groups are penetrating through the Golubivka area, but do not have stable control over the center. The high operational risk is Kupyansk-Vuzlovy and Kivsharivka. There, the main enemy pressure is being carried out with the aim of cutting off our bridgehead on the left bank of the Oskil River. If we talk about the enemy’s plans in the coming months, then this is the continuation of exhausting battles of small groups, local penetrations, mopping up and the struggle for logistics. I am one hundred percent sure that the complete capture of the city is not the enemy’s baseline scenario.
– Taking the entire front line, which directions do you see as the most threatening in the autumn and winter?
– It is possible to increase pressure in the Zaporizhia and Hulyaipil directions, but in the cold period it will be a little more difficult, and the attempt to align along the state border in Sumy region, which the enemy is already doing indirectly with very small forces. The key preliminary assessment is that the cold will not turn off our fighting, but it will change their rhythm. In the fall there will be more foot infiltrations and battles for logistics. After the ground freezes, short attempts at mechanized breakthroughs are possible.
– And, probably, the enemy will continue to terrorize the civilian population with jet drones?
– Unfortunately, in this aspect the enemy will only increase its firepower, because for him this is an effective mechanism that really works on our population, on its resilience. The winter period is ahead and we need to survive this winter.
If we talk in detail about the Donetsk direction, then the enemy can use dry soil for maximum pressure precisely in the Konstantinivsko-Druzhkivske, Pokrovsko-Dobropol directions. Perhaps in the Kupyansko-Oskilske direction as well. When there is a little more mud there, then, accordingly, larger infiltrations will begin. In the fall and early winter, when snow begins, I think the enemy will use this time to penetrate and accumulate small groups. If frost begins, most likely, there will be local mechanized assaults in the directions that I have already named.
Throughout the winter, the campaign against the energy sector is likely to intensify. Unfortunately, we have to accept this. Energy, railways, industry, air defense. The enemy is already moving to continuous day and night attacks. Jet UAVs are a big problem.
– But we hope that it will be resolved in the near future, that we will have interceptors.
– I hope so.