Russia Sets Eye on Zaporizhzhia's Orikhiv With 150,000-Troop Formations

Russia has reportedly amassed 120 assault groups, with around 150,000 troops, towards the city of Orikhiv in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.Orikhiv is a city close to the contact line with the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, which analysts previously described as a stronghold threatened by Russian advances, alongside the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia, after advances towards another regional stronghold of Hulyaipole.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Serhiy Skibchik, the press officer of Ukraine’s 65th separate mechanized brigade “Velyky Lug,” noted the formations on television, calling the situation difficult but under control, according to state media Ukrinform on Thursday.“The only thing that has changed is the hypertrophied kill zone, it has grown significantly, and it affects our logistics,” he said.Skibchik said Russia would have to amass major forces to take the city before noting the newly spotted formations nearby.According to Ukrinform, Skibchik said 120 assault groups are in neighboring areas, including Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army, particularly the 19th and 42nd motorized rifle divisions.He said nearby Russian troops total around 150,000 – which is on par with the entirety of Russia’s initial invasion force across Ukraine in 2022.But Skibchik said he’s confident that the formations are “not enough to claim success.”“It must be said that these groups consist of assault troops trained from the 98th Airborne Division and the 7th, 11th, and 104th Airborne Assault Brigades,” he continued. Other Topics of Interest Russia Steps Up Deadly Attacks on Ukraine’s Passenger Trains Four trains were struck in two days as Russian drones increasingly pursued railway targets, forcing passengers to evacuate onto fields and into forests. Orikhiv under threat?Analysts previously warned that Orikhiv could be targeted next after the potential fall of Hulyaipole, which happened in early 2026.Orikhiv is located about 38 kilometers (23.6 miles) southwest of Hulyaipole.In late December 2025, Russian troops began marching toward the city of Hulyaipole, during which military analyst Denys Popovych warned Kyiv24 that if Hulyaipole fell, Zaporizhzhia itself and Orikhiv would be next.Since then, Russian troops have taken over Hulyaipole and pushed toward Orikhiv, with both sides trading territory on the southern front, according to data from the open-source battlefield map DeepState UA.The data shows that Russian troops have pushed westward and northward after the occupation of Hulyaipole, while Ukrainian troops have had some successes pushing back Russian advances south and east of Orikhiv.As of late 2025, Russia claimed to control around 70% of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while Kyiv Post’s August tallies put 73% of the region under occupation.The region is one of five that Russia claimed through illegal referendums, alongside Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions, as well as the Crimea peninsula. However, Kyiv and the West have firmly rejected the legitimacy of Moscow’s supposed referendums. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.