Special Military Operation General - February 2026

Welcome to the February 2026 edition of the General Thread on the Special Military Operation!

As often as content arrives, hopefully monthly, /russia will publish a summary of the occurrences on the turbulent border between Russia and Ukraine, highlighting achievements and losses. These posts intend to provide an organised discussion space for this persistently unraveling situation. This release was published early because I was impatient.

Treat this summary as more than likely disinformation. I am not an expert on the subject matter, although I do hope to find some. I have no way to reliably access exact border information, as both sides produce insane amounts of disinformation primarily to give the opponent incorrect data. Reliable information should be sourced from multiple independent informers, a purpose I hope this General Thread will develop and serve well in given time. Do not trust everything you see online; the war is also for your mental space!

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A noteworthy event occurring this January was the supposed and yet to be confirmed Russian securing of the towns of Stepnogorsk and Primorskoe in Zaporozhye Oblast, on the south bank and at the mouth of the Konka River. Anticipating expansion up to Zaporozhye, the bridge north used by the E105 highway, located further west on Ukrainian turf, has reportedly already been wrecked; the node is still useful for a potential reconnection with the forces which took over Gulyaypole at the end of last year.

Ukraine didn't exclusively lose, either. Fully squelched with relative certainty was Russia's attempted conquest of southwestern Kupiansk, which inconveniently forced Russian forces to cross westward across the Oskol River. Following the offensive attack of November 2025, defense was unsustainable and crumbled.