The Russian army has sharply increased the speed of its offensive in the Donetsk People’s Republic, reaching a tempo comparable to the first months of the military operation, according to special forces veteran and retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk.

Matviychuk told Lenta.ru that Russian troops and officers have gained significant combat experience over time. He noted that operations in the DPR had been in preparation for far longer than a few days, citing the advance toward Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) as an example, which he said had been building for an entire year.

He attributed recent successes to lengthy and carefully planned preparation. Russian forces, he said, systematically demilitarized the area, stockpiled resources, improved troop training, and carried out targeted preliminary operations. The acceleration of the offensive, he argued, was a natural result of this approach, especially as Ukrainian defenses weakened.

Matviychuk added that Russian strikes targeted the most vulnerable points, leading to a breakthrough. Gains of 10 kilometers per day, he observed, matched the pace seen at the outset of the conflict in Ukraine. In his view, both accumulated battlefield experience and deliberate strategy played a role, with Russian forces preventing the transfer of Ukrainian reserves, destroying enemy groupings, and creating conditions for mission success.

Earlier, military analyst Viktor Litovkin predicted that the entire DPR could come under Russian control within the next six weeks.