The Russians are trying to force the Ukrainian defenders to leave the city.

Advisor to the President’s Office, Oleksiy Arestovych, said that the Russian occupiers plan to repeat in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, the same scenario that happened during the battles for Severodonetsk.

As he noted in a conversation with Russian human rights defender Mark Feigin on YouTube, the Russians are trying to force Ukrainian defenders to leave the city.

“The Russians want to exit to the west of Bakhmut and hope to cut the Kostyantynivka-Bakhmut highway in order to surround the city,” Arestovych said.

However, according to him, the occupiers will not be able to repeat what happened in Severodonetsk, in the direction of Bakhmut.

Battles for Bakhmut: what is known

PVK “Wagner” drives recruited convicts to the Bakhmut direction, hoping to weaken the Ukrainian defense. Behind them are the military personnel of the Russian Federation. As the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, said, prisoners are “meat” for the “Wagner” PVC.

Military expert and director of Defense Express Serhii Zgurets emphasized that a typical war of attrition is going on around Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Despite the efforts of the occupiers, the Ukrainian defenders will hold the city.

Earlier, the officer of the Svoboda battalion of the 4th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Andrii Illenko, reported that the shelling of Bakhmut has become more intense in recent days. He added that the entire Bakhmut direction is today the “hottest direction of the war”.