Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the Serebrianskyi Forest
An organized pullback of Ukraine’s Defense Forces from the Serebriansky forest to the Siverskyi Donets River is being planned.
The defense of the Serebriansky forest, which has lasted several years, is nearing its end. Ukraine’s Forces may soon leave this key fortified area, according to both military personnel and analysts.
The Serebrianskyi Forest lies in the Luhansk region, about eight kilometers southwest of the city of Kreminna. A significant natural area, part of it belongs to the Serebrianskyi botanical reserve and is currently a frontline where fighting continues.
Military observer Bohdan Myroshnykov reports that the defense of the Serebriansky forest is concluding, and that Ukrainian forces are also losing a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Zherebets River.
He says this significantly worsens the situation for two key population centers east of the Kramatorsk–Sloviansk urban area - Siversk and Lyman.
“Siversk is effectively in a semicircle (pressed from two sides), and if the enemy pushes out of the Serebrianskyi Forest toward Dronivka and takes it, that would be an encirclement from three sides. Things there, to put it mildly, are not good - if not outright bad,” Myroshnykov said.
A Ukrainian army lieutenant with the callsign Alex confirms there is an “unpleasant situation” with the defense of the Serebriansky forest. He says the Ukrainian Forces will be forced to fall back due to a series of “events and decisions that, over a certain period, created the preconditions for what we’re seeing now.”
“Paradoxical, but not surprising, the problems in this sector arose largely not because of the units and command on the spot, but because of what was happening around them: the salient at Terny stopped being a salient long ago - in fact, it has grown roughly fourfold and pushed about 20 km into our rear; the Bilohorivka heights were lost,” Alex said.
All these factors, he argues, began as tactical setbacks and then created an unfavorable operational picture that the Russians are now exploiting, gradually pushing Ukrainian units back to the Siverskyi Donets River.
“I don’t understand one thing - whether I’ve tied all these ‘purely coincidental’ events together as treason, or the responsible strategists are just thinking too narrowly and failed to spot potential threats and take at least some measures. If it’s the latter, it’s so dumb and senseless it scares me,” the servicemember added.
At the same time, Dmytro Zhmailo, cofounder and executive director of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, believes the pullback from the “forest of wonders” is linked to its near-total destruction by fighting.
“The Russians are indeed trying to create a certain pocket, but there is still a neck for Ukrainian forces to withdraw. From what I’ve heard, the Ukrainian military’s main task now is to organize a deliberate, orderly retreat from this area,” Zhmailo said on Kyiv24.
He emphasizes that Ukraine’s Defense Forces fulfilled their tasks in the Serebriansky forest “200 percent,” inflicting heavy losses on the Russian troops despite the scorched terrain.
For now, he says, Ukrainian defenders will focus on stabilizing the situation around Yampil, where Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups are trying to break through. After that, the plan is to reinforce the front line along the Siverskyi Donets.
“And then repel attacks the enemy is attempting south of this waterway and directly to the east of the settlement of Serebrianka. That’s why it’s critical for us to preserve as many of our servicemembers’ lives as possible, not the territories the enemy has burned to the ground,” Zhmailo concluded.