Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Russian forces in the Avdeysk region can choose which direction to focus their offensive actions after the breakthrough near the village of Ocheretino in the Donetsk region.
According to ISW's regular summary of the situation at the front, Russian troops may try to advance in a western direction (towards the city of Pokrovsk) or support the advance of the Russian army north towards Chasov Yar, an important stronghold of the VSU.
"Russian forces have the opportunity to choose between many tactical directions for a future advance near Avdeyevka, but it remains unclear where they will focus their efforts in the near future," the ISW authors write.
Earlier, ISW experts said Russia is likely to make significant tactical gains in the coming weeks, but is unlikely to break through Ukrainian defenses quickly.
The Russian army has the opportunity to achieve operationally significant objectives in the city of Chasov Yar, but instead spends its forces on expanding and deepening the breach near Ocheretino, where achieving such objectives is much less possible, ISW experts said.< /p>
In order to take over Chasov Yar, the Russians are trying to surround the town in its surroundings, and are also actively firing artillery and mortars, the spokesman of the Hortitsa group announced yesterday. Nazar Voloshin. According to him, there is no Russian army in the city itself, but the assault is from the side of the villages of Ivanovskoye and Bogdanovka.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces have failed to make significant progress in the Avdeevka area, the report's authors conclude.
For several months, analysts have been warning of a possible new Russian offensive in Ukraine in May or June. Russian troops are attacking key frontline areas, and the air force is launching missile and drone strikes on cities such as Kharkiv, Kiev and Odessa to soften theater resistance ahead of a major offensive operation.
Ukraine would not be surprised by an attack on Kharkiv, for example with an army numbering 20 to 40,000 people, as Ukrainian intelligence itself warned of such a development.