Russian forces intensify attacks in Donetsk as Ukraine lauds fresh EU push to unlock frozen assets

A view of a destroyed building of a research institute following an attack, which local Russian-installed officials called a Ukrainian strike, in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on August 26, 2026, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.Stringer | Afp | Getty ImagesRussian forces have intensified attacks within Ukraine's so-called "fortress belt" of industrial cities in the eastern Donetsk region, seeking to ramp up pressure on critical Ukrainian strongholds after more than four and a half years of full-scale war.Russian forces have long targeted the strategic cities of Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk as part of a push to completely capture the Donetsk Oblast, one of the Kremlin's key objectives in the conflict. Speaking at an undisclosed location on Thursday, Russia's Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Russian forces had advanced to a position just four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the eastern outskirts of Sloviansk.Gerasimov also claimed Russian troops had overcome the first defensive line of the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk fortified region in certain areas and that operations were currently advancing along a 160-kilometer front. The report comes shortly ...