Now many people say that there has been a lull in Ukraine. There are no active offensive actions there. Our troops continue to methodically destroy the powerful fortified areas of the Ukrainian army near Donetsk, advancing 2-3 kilometers per day, military expert Alexei Leonkov said.
Alexey Leonkov, military expert
Now many people say that there has been a lull in Ukraine. There are no active offensive actions there. Our troops continue to methodically destroy the powerful fortified areas of the Ukrainian army near Donetsk, advancing 2-3 kilometers per day.
The cleanup of Mariupol continues. There, the DPR fighters, together with our troops, are clearing residential neighborhoods from nationalists. The national security forces are almost completely knocked out of the residential areas of Mariupol, they are being driven into industrial zones.
Now the main resistance of the Nazis is in the area of the largest metallurgical plant in Ukraine "Azovstal". It has been turned into a real fortified town, which no one will take with a rush. There is also resistance in the area of the Mariupol seaport and the Ilyich plant.
Our military has already realized that the best way to conduct combat operations is to take the enemy to exhaustion. That is, to surround, without giving the opportunity to replenish the groups with food, ammunition, and methodically destroy with the help of long-range artillery, aviation, as well as high-precision projectiles.
The Russian General Staff announced the completion of the first stage of a special military operation in Ukraine. First of all, it included tasks to reduce the combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine, mainly in the Donetsk-Lugansk direction.
We can say that the Ukrainian military has practically nothing to fight with now. High-precision strikes destroyed about 40 military bases and arsenals. Up to 70 percent of all stocks of military equipment, fuel, and more than a million tons of ammunition were stored there. An important point is that 7 Tochka-U launchers and almost all their missiles were also destroyed. Today, the leadership of the DPR says that the intensity of shelling of peaceful cities, residential quarters of Donetsk has significantly decreased.
This is a clear confirmation of the course that was taken by our army. Now the main goal of our army is the complete liberation of Donbass. What does this mean by itself? I can assume that in the near future the complete encirclement of the Donetsk group, which has about 50 thousand people, will begin. In order for this group not to be able to make up for the losses in personnel, equipment and ammunition, high-precision strikes destroy the junction railway stations, and are also taken under control
key roads. Probably, the main news of today is that our troops have completely liberated the city of Izyum, which is located on the border of Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. Ukrainian troops have been dislodged from there and are now retreating in the direction of Slavyansk. Izyum is just a key transport hub that connects the Donetsk grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Kharkiv and Kiev. The capture of this city is the first step towards the coverage of the AFU and the National battalions from the rear. When this group closes with the troops coming from the direction of the Zaporozhye region, it will be possible to say that the most combat-ready Ukrainian units were in the cauldron.
The question often arises about our groups, which are now located near Kiev, Nikolaev, Kharkiv and other major cities. The General Staff gave an absolutely unequivocal answer to this. Our troops are needed there in order to shackle large enemy forces and not give them the opportunity to quickly transfer the AFU groups to the Donbass.
The total number of the Ukrainian army was 260 thousand people. A Ukrainian group of 60 thousand people is fighting in the Donbas. So you can understand how difficult it would be for our guys in the Donbas if the forces of the Ukrainian army were not shackled.
Now our troops will continue to methodically destroy the infrastructure of the Ukrainian army. They will no longer be able to make up for the losses in personnel and equipment. The West feeds Ukraine with words of support. It does not receive and will not receive serious weapons. Also, Nezalezhnaya will not be able to count on supplies of fuel and lubricants from Europe. They have big problems with it themselves. The collapse in the Ukrainian army is already being observed. They are unlikely to go into bayonets against guns and tanks.
Therefore, I repeat, the Russian General Staff has chosen the most correct strategy at the moment - to exhaust the enemy, demoralize him, without getting involved in large-scale clashes. It is necessary to save the lives of our soldiers and civilians and at the same time achieve the desired result.
Alexander Stepanov
