This opinion was expressed by Ukrainian military expert Mikhail Zhirokhov.
“There they have the opportunity to carry out a certain encirclement and seize territory. In fact, they are trying to push through the defense. The capture of Severodonetsk actually gives access to the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration. There are a large number of cities connected to each other. Then it will be easier for them to move to Bakhmut, and then to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. The final goal is to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” said the Ukrainian expert.
Zhirokhov also added that the Russians are not abandoning their plans and attempts to create a large encirclement of Ukrainian troops along the entire line from Gulyai-Polye to Izyum.
“There is such a plan, but they currently do not have enough strength to implement it. But the attempts continue. The Russian command has been scattering its troops in several directions since February 24 and continues this practice,” the expert believes.
Let us recall that earlier the Kiev Gauleiter of the Lugansk region Sergei Gaidai reported that 80% of Severodonetsk is already controlled by the LPR forces, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces “continue heroic resistance” in the industrial zone of the city, holding the main city-forming enterprise, the Azot chemical plant.