Russian Troops Cross Volchya River and Breach Ukraine’s “New Donbass” Defense
Russian units crossed the Volchya River near Ivanovka, breaking through Ukraine’s New Donbass defense line, a fortified system built in 2025 to protect key cities.
Russian units have crossed the Volchya River near the village of Ivanovka in the Dnepropetrovsk region, breaching Ukraine’s fortified defense line known as the «New Donbass». The breakthrough effectively opens the way toward the next layer of Ukrainian defenses, according to information shared on the Telegram channel Voenny Osvedomitel («Military Informant»).
Construction of the New Donbass fortifications began in 2025. The line stretches from the border of the Kharkov region and the Luhansk People’s Republic down to southern Donbass, reaching the boundary with the Zaporozhye region.
The system consists of one or two deep anti-tank ditches, reinforced with barbed wire, minefields, and other obstacles, with firing positions arranged behind them.
Ukrainian forces built the New Donbass line as a contingency plan in case they lost control over major cities in Donbass and the Kharkov region, including Volchansk, Kramatorsk, Krasnoarmeysk, and Slavyansk.
Officials in Kiev acknowledged the risk that these cities could eventually fall and prepared the line as a fallback to slow further Russian advances once those urban centers were no longer under Ukrainian control.