ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 8, 2025

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Kremlin officials and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on June 8 that Russian forces reached the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast border and are conducting offensive operations into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — an oblast that Russia has not illegally declared as annexed.
• Russian officials have repeatedly signaled that the Kremlin has wider territorial ambitions in Ukraine, including in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
• Russia continued to baselessly accuse Ukraine of failing to repatriate the bodies of killed in action (KIA) soldiers on June 8 — part of the Kremlin’s efforts to undermine mutually agreed upon confidence-building measures with Ukraine.
• The Kremlin appears to have orchestrated a concerted media campaign that aimed to use the purportedly agreed-upon KIA exchange in order to discredit Ukraine and promote Russia’s justifications for its war to both domestic and international audiences.
• Russian officials appear to be setting conditions to withdraw from international arms control treaties, likely as part of preparation for a potential future war with NATO.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a chemical plant in Tula Oblast on June 8.
• Ukrainian and Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced in the Povrovsk direction.

Authors: Olivia Gibson, Anna Harvey, Christina Harward, and George Barros with William Runkel and Nate Trotter.

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