Battle for Bakhmut: too early to talk about  encirclement, but process is underway, says military expert Kovalenko

He told this on the Espreso TV channel. 

"It is too early to talk about the operational encirclement of Bakhmut. There is no question of either operational or tactical encirclement of Russian troops in Bakhmut. However, the process is underway. The city is under the fire control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but it is not entirely correct to talk about full control of the city. The fact is that the city is not in an operational encirclement, and the Russian invaders have room for manoeuvre within the city. This manoeuvre can be quite wide. Therefore, it is too early to talk about any fire control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Kovalenko explained.

The expert added that the logistics of the Russian troops on the eastern flank of Bakhmut are completely shelled by the Ukrainian artillery.

"However, it is true that the city itself is in the palm of our artillery's hand. First of all, because the Russian forces are in the lowlands, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces control almost all the dominant heights. The most interesting thing is that Russian logistics in the eastern sector of the city are also under fire from our artillery. It is too early to talk about fire control, but it is a fact that we can hit targets 5 kilometres or more on Russian logistics," he added.

• On 12 July, it was reported that the Defence Forces were holding back the Russian offensive in the east, advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut and destroying the Russian enemy in the south.
• On 14 July, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had advanced on the southern flank of the Bakhmut direction.