AFU Cut 50,000 Russian Troops In Luhansk Region With ‘Logistics Caldron’

They are “closing” it near Svatove and Kreminna.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are gradually intercepting the operational and strategic initiative in the east, in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Military analyst and co-chairman of the Just Cause Civil Initiative Dmytro Snehirev expressed this opinion.

“Heavy battles, losses and super-efforts were not in vain and brought results: we’ve managed to de-occupy 40% of our territory and liberate more than 2,000 settlements from the enemy. Now there is positive progress in the Luhansk region and opportunity for further de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region, which is also recognized by the Russian side,” the expert comments.

He also considers it a positive thing that half of the Donetsk region is still under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the attempts of the Russian Federation to turn the tide ended in military and political defeat.

According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, the most difficult situation remains in the Soledar-Bakhmut-Mayorsk area. The enemy is actually trying to move forward over the corpses of its soldiers there, but the defence forces, at the cost of super-efforts, are holding back the hostile offensive.

“Now the situation in the Bakhmut region is stabilized. We even managed to push the enemy out of the urban areas. The city and the communication routes are fully controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and there are absolutely no prerequisites for the operational encirclement or the withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops from there,” Snehirev notes.

At the same time, the situation in Avdiivka is difficult but manageable.

“This is a fortified area. The construction started in 2014. That is, we are totally controlling the Donetsk axis, and the Russians sometimes only advance at the tactical level from a few hundred meters to three kilometers. Consequently, the further advance of the occupiers will be very problematic,” the analyst notes.

The expert notes positive developments in the area of Kreminna and Svatove of the Luhansk region.

“We are creating prerequisites for the development of an offensive with the possibility of cutting off the Russian grouping from the supply of a 50,000-strong group there. Actually, there are 15,000 combat-ready 'bayonets'. At the same time, the situation in the Svatove axis is, to put it mildly, unpleasant for the enemy,” he notes.

According to Snehirev, this is the reason for the redeployment to the Svatove-Kreminna area of the Luhansk region of the 76th Airborne Division from Pskov, which the Russians consider to be the most combat-ready and technically equipped. However, it is unlikely that another attempt to turn the tide in their favour will be successful for the occupiers.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting in a modern, mobile way, unlike the enemy. They, fortunately for us, are acting according to the patterns of the Soviet army, but the AFU are inflicting precise strikes, primarily on the enemy’s supply routes. Bleeding the enemy in this way and forcing it to retreat," the analyst sums up.