AFU Encircle Russian Army In Svatovo From North-West

The Russian military surrendered voluntarily 20 kilometers away from the city.

Ukrainian troops have recently advanced northwest of Svatovo in the Luhansk Region. For their part, the Russian occupants continued defensive operations in the eastern direction, fearing possible attacks by the AFU on Kremenna.

The summary of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says it. On the previous day, the Defense Forces strengthened their positions in northeastern Kharkiv region to the northwest of Svatovo.

Ukrainian soldiers captured the occupants, who had voluntarily surrendered near Route N26 in Krokhmalne, about 20 km away from Svatovo. Ukrainian defenders also took control of nearby settlements - Peschane, Berestovo and Tabayivka.

Russian sources complain that Ukrainian forces conducted ground attacks north of Krokhmalne and attempted to attack Orlyanka and Kotlyarivka within 30 km northwest of Svatovo. Propagandists feared that Ukrainian forces were reinforcing positions west of Kremenna and attempting to force the Zherebets River to prepare for attacks on Russian units in that locality.

"Russian forces continued to conduct defensive operations around Kremenna in anticipation of a possible attack by the AFU. The chief of staff of the BARS-13 battalion (Russian combat reserve) in Kremenna stated that they were 'firmly' holding the city's defense and fully controlling the Svatovo-Kremenna road," ISW quoted Russian sources.

ISW stresses they could not independently verify the claims of such propagandists. At the same time, they added that Russian units fear a counterattack by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The Russians themselves wrote that relatives of the occupants found half of the personnel of the 15th regiment of the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade from Moscow wounded in a regional hospital in Belgorod after the unit came under AFU heavy artillery fire while trying to reach the front line in Svatovo.