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The New Zealand Army has reinforced its long-standing commitment with Australia with the signing of the renewed Plan ANZAC in Canberra yesterday.
Plan ANZAC is a bilateral agreement between the New Zealand Army and Australian Army, designed to support the two nations to train, deploy and operate together more effectively.
Signed by the new Chief of the Australian Army, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, and Chief of the New Zealand Army, Major General Rose King at Australian Army Headquarters, the agreement enhances interoperability through aligning capability, training, and readiness to respond to emerging operational challenges.
“Plan ANZAC is our promise that, whatever challenges lie ahead, Australia and New Zealand will meet them not as neighbours standing side by side, but as partners, deeply committed to each other, moving forward together.” ~ Major General Rose King
see the Pic.

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Battle for Konstantinovka: Why Russia’s latest Donbass victory matters

The capture of Konstantinovka could become one of the war’s biggest turning points 
By Sergey Poletaev, information analyst and publicist, co-founder and editor of the Vatfor project. 
Last weekend, the Russian authorities announced the complete liberation of the city of Konstantinovka, the battle for which had been raging since the end of last year. 
Why did the battle for this city take so long? Is Konstantinovka really strategically important? And why was so much time and effort spent on capturing it? We explore all this below. 
One of the largest cities in Donbass
In terms of size, Konstantinovka (population 98,000 in 2002 and approximately 70,000 in 2022) is the largest city (not urban agglomeration) captured by the Russian Army since the spring of 2022, i.e., following the liberation of Mariupol. The Pokrovsk-Mirnograd agglomeration is larger (its pre-war population, including the suburbs, was up to 200,000 people), but it consists of two cities with a relatively large and less densely populated area between them. This allowed the Russian Army to capture these cities separately, utilizing the area between them to cut through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
In Konstantinovka, this was not possible since it is a continuous urban area measuring approximately 6 by 12 km. Konstantinovka has 20,000 buildings, about 1,000 of which are multi-storey. In the conditions of modern warfare, each multi-storey building is transformed into a mini-fortress with a developed underground section. The southern part of the city (around Kosmonavtov Boulevard) with its nine-storey panel buildings is particularly challenging in this regard. 
The Krivoy Torets River flows through the center of Konstantinovka. The river in itself is a natural defensive line, but it is also reinforced by a large industrial zone that bisects the city. This industrial zone is comparable in size to that of Mariupol: kilometers of concrete workshops, underground utilities, and Cold War-era bomb shelters; in short, it is a ready-made citadel.
Outpost of the AFU’s main fortress 
After the retreat of Igor Strelkov’s forces from Slaviansk and Kramatorsk in 2014–2015, these two cities became the AFU’s main hub in Donbass. They housed the ATO headquarters, and powerful fortifications made of steel and concrete were erected there. Konstantinovka was part of the perimeter of this fortress, serving as a kind of outpost: to reach Slaviansk and Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka had to be captured first.
Along with Slaviansk and Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka was also fortified for defense: the basements of multi-storey buildings were converted into strongholds, underground heating mains and cable collector tunnels between them were reinforced, cleared of debris, and underground passages were constructed to connect several buildings into a single network. Essentially, the multi-storey buildings were all connected by underground pathways, and one could quickly move and transport cargo from one point to another. 
Similar work was carried out in the industrial zone; most enterprises had ceased operations back in 2014-2015 and were partially demolished or rebuilt for defense in 2015-2020. Weapons, ammunition, and supply depots were also set up in the industrial zone and near the railway station.
Along the city’s perimeter, outside the urban area, field fortifications were created, such as trenches, dugouts, and field strongholds. The outskirts of Konstantinovka – Ilyinovka, Berestok, Pleshcheyevka station, Predtechino, Stupochki, and Novodmitrovka – were also converted into strongpoints and formed a single firing network. 
All this was done in order to delay the Russian army’s advance toward Slaviansk and Kramatorsk – the AFU’s main defense hub not only in Donbass but in the whole of eastern Ukraine.
Russian ‘pincers’
The example of Konstantinovka clearly demonstrates the assault tactics perfected by the Russian Army since 2023 (the time of battles for Bakhmut, Marinka, and Avdeevka).
First and foremost, the Russian Army engages in battles for the flanks and outskirts of a city. This is the longest and, for an outside observer, rather unremarkable process. Fighters of the South Group of Forces approached Konstantinovka from the east as early as December 2025, when Predtechino, Pleshcheyevka station, and Ivanopolye were captured.
Then, in the spring, Novodmitrovka in the north, and Berestok and Ilyinovka in the south, were captured. All battles were fought by small assault groups; they were supplied either by aerial deliveries or from caches that had been airdropped earlier. The advancing Russian forces benefited from the enemy’s poor battle formations: the depletion of the AFU, even in key directions, has reached such a point that an important stronghold or an entire village is sometimes defended by just a few soldiers stationed there without rotation for months on end.
Furthermore, the most combat-ready AFU units remain in the city, since cities have better fortifications, supplies, communication between units, and the command is located there. Therefore, the flanks are usually the first to fall under Russian control. 
Neither can the AFU redeploy forces to the suburbs – since if the city is left without infantry reinforcements it will suffer the fate of Pokrovsk, the southern part of which was taken by Russian assault units without a fight on July 30-31, 2025. The endeavor to drive them out was slow, bloody, and unsuccessful. 
Therefore, the capture of the suburbs of Konstantinovka at the end of April 2026 meant that the Ukrainian garrison in the city was doomed. The Russian Army established tight fire control over all roads leading into the city, 24/7 air control, and was able to identify and destroy enemy presence in the city from the air. At this point, Russian troops could just stop and wait. 
The main instrument of war
Wait for what? Inevitable Ukrainian counterattacks. Over two dozen assault operations have already been carried out in Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Dnepropetrovsk regions using the above-mentioned strategy. But every time the ‘Russian pincers’ close in around another city, the AFU attempt to break the encirclement with counterattacks and either bring additional forces into the city or, in the final stages of fighting, withdraw the remnants of the doomed garrison.
With the exception of Kupiansk, the AFU has so far failed to achieve this goal. Not because they’re bad fighters – far from it. However, the Russian General Staff has imposed extremely disadvantageous combat tactics on the Ukrainian command. The AFU lack firepower, they have significantly fewer personnel (especially assault forces), no aerial bombs, virtually no rocket artillery, and so on. Furthermore, they lack the years of experience in assault operations that the Russian Army possesses. 
In short, the Ukrainian forces are virtually incapable of counterattacking. And to defend its position, an army has to carry out constant counterattacks. In battle, in order to stand still, one has to constantly move forward, and that’s something the AFU are almost incapable of doing – or, rather, are capable of only in certain sections of the front.
This is what happened in Konstantinovka. The bloodiest part of the operation for the AFU lasted from late April to mid-June; they carried out counterattacks on the flanks in an attempt to break the encirclement and withdraw at least part of the garrison. In mid-May, the defense of the southern part of the city (the most heavily-fortified area) collapsed. From then on, the condition of the garrison in the Konstantinovka industrial zone and the railway station area deteriorated even faster. 
What is notable is that, compared to the flanks, there was virtually no fighting in the city: Russian assault units infiltrated city blocks in small groups, accumulated forces, achieved local superiority, and with the help of detailed aerial reconnaissance, engaged in clearing operations rather than direct combat. The powerful fortifications, which had been prepared for many years, were of no use since there were no people left to defend them.
We may wonder, why the Ukrainian command waits for the inevitable to happen, time and time again? Why doesn’t it withdraw the garrison from the doomed city and thereby preserve its most capable, experienced, and motivated fighters?
The answer is also quite rational: if they abandon Konstantinovka, the situation will repeat itself in Druzhkovka; if they abandon Druzhkovka, Kramatorsk and Slaviansk will suffer the same fate, and so on. The Russians could quickly get to Kiev like that. 
***
The battles for individual cities may seem unremarkable and repetitive. However, as we see, in these battles, the Russian Army has been able to force Ukrainian forces into a particularly unfavorable style of combat. This is evident both at the tactical level – since the AFU are forced to sacrifice reserves in useless counterattacks, suffering significantly higher losses than the Russian Armed Forces – and at the operational level, since Ukrainian forces are forced to cling to doomed cities to somehow hold the defense. 
All this gives the Russian Army a key strategic advantage: initiative on the battlefield, which leads to the attrition of the enemy and hastens the moment when the AFU will be unable to conduct counterattacks and hold the front line. 
This moment will mark the collapse of the AFU and will determine the outcome of the war. 

𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐖: 𝐌𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋’𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝟑
Mitch McConnell has now been hospitalized for 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬, since June 14, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is publicly demanding a health update his office still hasn’t gotten. Buried under the Iran news and the Kirk hearing coverage is a deadline that could decide who holds one of the most consequential Senate seats in the country.
Under a 2024 Kentucky law, passed by the legislature after overriding one of Beshear’s vetoes, the governor no longer has the power to simply appoint a replacement senator. If McConnell is declared unfit for office before 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟑, state law requires a special election to fill the remainder of his term. If that declaration comes after August 3, the seat sits 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, with the winner not taking office until January.
That timing matters enormously. A special election called now would hand Beshear and Kentucky Democrats a window to contest a seat Republicans currently hold outright. A vacancy that waits until after the deadline effectively runs out the clock until the regularly scheduled fall election, where Republicans go in as heavy favorites in a state Trump carried by roughly 30 points in 2024.
Beshear has already called the 2024 law an unconstitutional stripping of gubernatorial authority, which means even the mechanism itself could wind up in court the moment it’s triggered.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫