Daily Ukraine map thread for Monday 7th Sept 2026 The defeat of the Russian forces in the Shandryholove salient north of Lyman now emerges, following many months of offensive action by the 3rd Army Corps and friends. We have pulled back the red to form a broad grey zone, and will refine the lines further once the situation has had the decency to clarify itself. The immediate thought might be: why did this take so long? It is, after all, hardly an immense tract of country. Surely it would have been preferable simply to cut off the few hundred Russian troops lingering around Shandryholove. And you would be quite right. Indeed, Ukrainian forces were sighted in Nove earlier in the year, making the eventual Russian withdrawal appear not merely possible, but positively sensible. But sensible decisions, alas, have not always been the Russian speciality. Instead, Russia continued to feed units into the salient in the hope of defeating the Ukrainian forces there, while maintaining the appearance of an advance despite mounting evidence to the contrary. What might have been a relatively painless withdrawal has therefore become a months-long exercise in feeding men and equipment into a highly favourable Ukrainian grinder - at substantial waste of human life. Do not be too distracted by the amount of ground that has changed colour on the map though. The map records territory. It does not record the men, vehicles, ammunition and months of combat required to hold it. A few kilometres may look insignificant when viewed from a desk. They can look rather different when measured in destroyed formations, exhausted units and the fighting power expended to gain them. The remarkable thing is that this was not achieved through some great Ukrainian masterstroke alone. Russian commanders and milbloggers have, in their own fashion, been most helpful in sustaining the fiction that progress was being made. Along the front near Kostyantynivka, Russian forces continue to push forward. Ukraine has reinforced near Kostyantynivka with 46th Airmobile, and the Omega special purpose units. Infiltrations continue in the Dobropillya to Druzhkivka section. Needless to say, this is really where the Ukrainian manpower problem is going to bite. Further problems exist towards Stepnohirsk and Orikhiv, where Ukrainian forces have recently lost a number of positions. There is plainly something amiss here. Were Russia presently capable of mounting a serious armoured offensive in this sector, the opportunity would be considerable. A determined push could, under the circumstances, achieve rather more than the usual Russian habit of advancing one field at a time would suggest. Alas, the opportunity exists, the capability does not. Elsewhere, long-range Ukrainian strikes hit Russian helicopters at Taganrog, as well as a disused Su-24 at Saky. Russian strikes continue to batter Ukraine, with a tobacco factory among the targets. No cigarettes for you, gentlemen. As though cigarettes were in short supply across Ukraine. And, meanwhile, the mid-range strike campaign continues apace with numerous targets being hit. It's quiet, as people aren't publishing as much, but we can tell you it is certainly carrying on apace. Geolocations follow: