Bridgehead near Dvorichna, Kharkiv region, keeps expanding — military expert

He spoke about this on Espreso TV. 

“In fact, the Russian forces are trying to force Oskil in several sections of this part of the frontline in order to form a bridgehead on the right bank of Oskil. Why: the answer is obvious. In this way, the Russians are trying to create the most difficult conditions for the Ukrainian army to conduct defensive battles to protect Kupyansk itself. Of course, the situation remains extremely complicated, and I have no answer why the bridgehead in the area of Dvorichna has not yet been blocked by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, but rather continues to expand,” the military expert said.

Vladyslav Selezniov noted that the Russian forces do not have the logistics to move enough armored vehicles to reliably defend that part of the bridgehead.

“Nevertheless, the trend is quite threatening. Because not only is the bridgehead in the Dvorichna area expanding, but in several other areas the Russian forces are trying to create the same conditions for the advance of their troops along the right bank of the Oskil River. I think that the Russian troops are acting as rationally as possible, trying to create the most convenient conditions for further logistics, to supply their troops, who will act on a larger scale in the Lyman direction in the future,” he said.

According to the military expert, the invading Russian forces continue to pursue the goal of completely capturing Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

“Why the Lyman direction: because it is Sloviansk, it is Kramatorsk, and we understand that the largest urban agglomeration of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivsk, which is under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, remains the key target of the Russian army in Donetsk region. In fact, Putin launched the so-called special military operation on February 22 for the sake of complete occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Therefore, the preparations we are witnessing now are aimed at providing the appropriate conditions for such a military operation,” added Vladyslav Selezniov.

• The OSINT project DeepState reports the advance of Russian troops near the settlement of Topoli in the Kharkiv region.