It's far from encirclement, but Russia's intentions are clearly visible: military expert on situation in Chasiv Yar

He said this on Espreso TV.

"As for the situation near Chasiv Yar today, this town is of great operational and strategic importance. Unlike Bakhmut and Avdiivka, which we lost, Chasiv Yar is a really important point, and both sides understand this. If Chasiv Yar is captured, the Russian army will have a good foothold to develop an offensive towards Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka. If you look at the map, you can see the Kharkiv-Izium-Bakhmut highway. Along this highway there are four well-prepared fortifications - Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostiantynivka," explained Kevliuk.

According to the military expert, the enemy has already tried to conduct an offensive operation and capture the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk-Druzhkivka-Kostiantynivka agglomeration at one time, and nothing came of it. Then the Russians also lost the Kharkiv region. So the enemy has learned from its failures.

"If Russia succeeds in isolating the southern point of this network, the town of Kostiantynivka, it will open up certain operational and strategic prospects for the enemy. First of all, the logistics line of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in this area will be disrupted, and this could lead to the collapse of the entire defense front of the Armed Forces in Donetsk region. Currently, the enemy is acting from three directions, trying to advance from the north through Bohdanivka and Kalynove, from the east to the west along the Bakhmut-Chasiv Yar highway. From the south, the Russian army is attacking through Ivanivske to the village of Stupochky. This is a classic Russian scheme that they have mastered quite well - an attempt to surround the garrison of Chasiv Yar. So far, the encirclement is very far away, but the intentions are clearly visible," emphasized Kevliuk.

• On April 14, after two days of work at the front, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced the need to improve the quality of troop training, increase the number of UAVs with trained operators, and improve the quality of asymmetric operations to reduce the Russians' combat potential.