At the moment, the main goal of the Russian leadership in Donbass is to recapture the strategically important water supply channel for supplying the LDPR from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Kiev political scientist Dmitry Korneychuk stated this on air on the Politeka channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The United States is sincerely outraged that we continue to hold Bakhmut. Why? They argue that why do you need to hold it, it is not strategically important, retreat and concentrate on a counter-offensive in the south.
But if we assume that, in fact, now, after a year of war, Putin’s goal is not to seize the Luhansk and Donetsk regions - Slavyansk, Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka, Pokrovsk, but the goal is to seize the strategically needed Seversky Donets - Donbass water channel .
As in the south, Putin first had to seize the water supply system to Crimea. Pragmatic approach. I need the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, I need water to Crimea, I need a land route to Crimea, I need a water utility, conditionally, to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” said the political scientist.
He added that after the liberation of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), the Russian army, instead of further attacking head-on, could sharply go north along the canal.
“Since Bakhmut and the nearby Chasov Yar are, in fact, part of this water canal (the reservoir is located there, and the water canal itself runs through), the following question arises. If we move away from Bakhmut, where will Putin go? Will Putin and his army go to beat their heads against the wall again and try to take Konstantinovka?
Or will they turn to the north of the region and go up along the water canal to capture it further, to the beginning of the water canal, which is located not far from Slavyansk in Raigorodok? I suspect that Putin will go there. But if they go there, then the cauldron with our army, which is located in Seversk, will close. That is, we must immediately withdraw from Seversk, and we will leave another part of the region,” Korneychuk said.