Ukraine’s 2026 goal: exhaust Russia, deny it breakthroughs, build reserves, top general says

Mar 31, 2026 - 15:05

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Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has set out the Defense Forces' strategy for 2026 in an interview with ICTV: exhaust Russia, hold territory, build reserves, and strike where the enemy is weakest, according to Militarnyi. The plan is already bearing results on the Oleksandrivka axis, where Ukrainian forces have earlier liberated 480 km² and forced Russia to redeploy reserves away from other front sectors, according to the top general.

Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine has entered its fifth year, with its offensives yielding ever-smaller territorial gains despite sustained assault pressure. Ukraine’s shift to localized counterattacks in the south, combined with deliberate reserve-building, continues a years-long strategy of making Russia pay for every meter rather than chasing a single decisive breakthrough.

Ukraine's four-part 2026 strategy

Syrskyi told ICTV that Ukraine's primary goal for the year is a strategic defensive operation aimed at exhausting Russia's occupying army. Alongside attrition, the Defense Forces are working to contain the enemy and prevent territorial losses, to create conditions for future large-scale offensive operations, and to build up reserves. Quality training of incoming personnel is a core pillar of that reserve-building effort, Syrskyi said.

The commander-in-chief also called for continued counterattack operations in sectors where "the enemy is weak," with the dual aim of liberating territory and retaining operational and strategic initiative.

"Because right now the enemy is playing by our rules. That is, it is forced to adjust and concentrate its efforts where we are advancing," he said.

480 km² on the Oleksandrivka axis

Ukraine's southern push has delivered its most tangible results at the junction of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. Syrskyi reiterated that Ukrainian forces have liberated 480 km² on the Oleksandrivka direction — exceeding the results of the Dobropillia counteroffensive, a 2025 operation in Donetsk Oblast near Pokrovsk during which more than 430 km² were reclaimed.

The southern advance forced Russia to redirect part of its forces and equipment from the Pokrovsk and Ocheretyne directions to contain Ukrainian pressure.

Euromaidan Press has tracked the Oleksandrivka operation since February, when ISW assessed that continued Ukrainian advances were burning Russian operational reserves and potentially spoiling Moscow's then-planned spring-summer offensive campaign.

Russia's 13-pronged offensive blocked

Syrskyi said Russian forces had planned to launch a large-scale offensive from 1 March on 13 main directions simultaneously. Ukrainian defensive actions disrupted that plan.

As one example of the tactical reality on the ground, Militarnyi noted that drone operators from the Roniny battalion of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade, together with adjacent units, repelled on 28 March a Russian column of more than 10 armored vehicles near Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast that was attempting to break through Ukrainian positions, destroying all 10 vehicles.