Aleksey Arestovich/Office of the President
The army of Russian invaders has now set a goal to capture Severodonetsk. After all, there are a lot of Ukrainian troops there, which the enemy is trying to surround.
The Severodonetsk-Lysichansk urban agglomeration is the only one of the large cities in the Lugansk region that is under the control of Ukraine. The remaining territories of the Lugansk region are almost completely occupied by the enemy. From Lisichansk there is a route to Bakhmut, which means that the possibility of a further offensive for the Russians on the territory of the Donetsk region.
The threat of a second Mariupol
Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the President's Office, confirmed that the threat of encirclement of Severodonetsk exists. Especially from the Popasna area, south of Severodonetsk. Russian troops captured this city.
This gave them the opportunity to approach the Lisichansk-Bakhmut highway. Consequently, this route is now under fire. This somewhat complicated the supply for the Ukrainian army.
Arestovich compared this situation with the encirclement of Mariupol, which the Russians encircled from all sides in the first weeks of the war.
“The threat of a second Mariupol exists. In in a certain sense, this is Mariupol in the initial phases,” said Aleksey Arestovich.
He explained why it is so important for the Russians to encircle Severodonetsk with his subsequent passion. First of all, this is a large knot of Ukrainian defense. His smoking will only play into the hands of the Russian army. The second reason is that these will be the last cities of the Lugansk region. After them, it will be possible to reach the borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Thus, to fulfill one of the “subtasks” of the Russian army – the capture of the entire Donbass and Luhansk region.
True, there is still a lot of Donetsk region, and if the infidels continue to advance at such a pace, when they spend a month and a half on one city, then there are not so many opportunities to capture the Donbass. After all, according to Arestovich, during the capture of Popasna, the Russian army lost from 60% to 80% of the personnel and equipment that went to capture the city.
For infidels, the capture of Severodonetsk will be the second big success after the capture of Mariupol.
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“This will help the Russian leadership in rhetoric within the country. And we will lose a little morale of our army and population,” Alexey Arestovich noted.
