Ex-US Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer shares the latest Russia Ukraine war map, detailing Russian forces' use of small assault groups and glide bombs in Donetsk Oblast.

04:17, Wed, Aug 5, 2026 Updated: 04:30, Wed, Aug 5, 2026

Worrying new map shows incoming Russia army assault on Ukrainian territory

Worrying new map shows incoming Russia army assault on Ukrainian territory (Image: X)

Russian forces are said to be deploying small assault groups to advance further into Ukrainian territory, according to an expert.

Chuck Pfarrer, a former Navy SEAL Team 6 Squadron leader and war correspondent for The Kyiv Post, published one of his detailed war maps on X showing Russia's foothold in Ukrainian border regions. Russian troops, Pfarrer suggests, have been employing "intense glide-bomb (KAB) and artillery fires" to "reduce large portions" of Kostiantynivka, an industrial centre in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast.

Pfarrer observes that Russian forces have struck areas surrounding urban centres like Kostiantynivka as well as rural communities such as Oleksiievo-Druzhivka, which is similarly situated in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast.

These locations, Pfarrer points out, have endured devastating Russian air strikes that have "reduced large portions of the city to rubble."

Pfarrer, who penned The New York Times best-selling autobiography, Warrior Soul, The Memoir of a Navy SEAL, posted the comprehensive map on Tuesday via X, offering insight into the current situation of the conflict now exceeding four years.

"Russian forces continue infil of built up areas using small assault groups, supported by intense glide-bomb (KAB) and artillery fires that have reduced large portions of the city to rubble. Contacts are now generalized across a majority of the urban area," he stated on Tuesday via X, accompanied by the map image.

The map highlights nearly half a dozen locations along the eastern frontier where "Russian attacks" have been "broken up" alongside several areas experiencing "Russian air strikes" and "zones of occasional contact."

Pfarrer is also a journalist renowned for his knowledge of military matters and counter-terrorism, having reported from numerous conflict zones over decades, from Benghazi to Kabul, the latter where he was embedded with the Afghan Air Force during operations, according to his biography on The Kyiv Post, where he frequently provides video commentary on the Ukraine war.

Most recently, he has covered Russian President Vladimir Putin's unsuccessful Donbas offensive and Ukraine's drone strikes on Russia's shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov, amongst other Ukraine war developments.

Russian airstrike hits Kramatorsk

Russia launched airstrikes on Kramatorsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast (Image: Getty)

Pfarrer, together with his colleague Jason Jay Smart, contended, "Russia still has to seize Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk before Putin can claim control of Donetsk."

Yet the pair contend, "each fortress city demands an urban battle his depleted army may no longer survive."

The duo also observe that Russia is presently grappling with troop recruitment alongside "weaker logistics" that offer "no credible path to rapid victory," following unsuccessful attempts in Bakhmut and Pokrovsk, they maintain.

Further challenges presently confronting the Kremlin encompass, the authors state, "fuel shortages, damaged refineries, depleted vehicles and collapsing supply lines now make every Russian advance harder to reinforce, connect and hold against Ukrainian counterattacks."

Yet the duo observe, "Ukrainian drones can isolate small assault groups before ammunition, water and replacements arrive, turning limited gains into exposed positions that consume the soldiers and equipment required for the next attack."