Main problem in Sloviansk-Kramatorsk sector is poor organisation of command and control – Butusov
Heavy fighting continues across many sectors of the front, but holding the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk area is crucial and critically important from an operational standpoint for the stability of the entire front in Donbas and the Kharkiv region.
This was stated during a broadcast hosted by journalist Iryna Romaliiska by Yurii Butusov, commander of a UAV company of the 23rd Assault Regiment of the National Guard’s 2nd Khartiia Corps, Censor.NET reports.
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"Sloviansk-Kramatorsk is a natural defensive line and the most favourable one for defence. Losing it would effectively allow the enemy to capture the whole of Donbas. All the other cities would simply fall, and the enemy would penetrate deep into the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions," Butusov explained.
According to the commander, the outcome of the 2026–2027 campaign is now being decided in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
"Fighting is now underway, and the enemy has entered an area crucial to the defence of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. This is the Chobitok forest. It is located on high ground east of Sloviansk. Heavy fighting is currently taking place there. Our soldiers are fighting for Chobitok. The enemy is also trying to capture this dense forest. Control of this wooded commanding height provides crucial advantages to whoever holds it.
"This forest is crucial to the successful defence of Sloviansk-Kramatorsk. If the enemy manages to deploy its UAV positions there, these cities will effectively be cut off. The enemy will then advance," Butusov explained.
He stressed that the main cause of the problems in the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk sector was the poor organisation of command and control.
"This is a genuine problem for the entire country that should be discussed. As for Sloviansk-Kramatorsk, the solution that is now obvious, since there is a stable front line there that is not moving, concerns the line held by the Third Army Corps. The obvious solution now being discussed, or on which decisions may possibly be made, is to create a grouping of forces under Biletskyi’s command that could cover not only the Lyman sector but also the neighbouring Sloviansk-Kramatorsk sector," Butusov said.
In the commander’s opinion, it will be impossible to hold back the enemy without establishing UAV combat formations and strengthening command and control in the area.
"There is now only a short window to prevent the enemy from moving forces into the forests east and south of Sloviansk, where they are actively building up. If the enemy manages to establish concentration areas there, the next stage will be street fighting," he concluded.
