Russians sense they will have to flee Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — military expert Lakiychuk

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

"The enemy 'feels in their spinal cord' that he will not be able to stay in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions for long and will have to flee either to the east or south, to Crimea. That's why the invaders build up the defense of the Crimean peninsula and sometimes act rationally. In northern Crimea, the defense system of field fortifications was set up in 2016-2019 and was constantly being improved until the full-scale invasion. Then, over the past year and a half, it was somewhat neglected. Today, the enemy only needs to restore position areas, company and platoon strongholds on this defense line from the Perekop ramparts, Chonhar, and the coast of Lake Syvash," the military expert commented.

According to him, Russian troops have been actively digging trenches and creating defensive structures on the western coast of the peninsula, starting south of Cape Tarkhankut to Yevpatoriya, almost to the northern outskirts of Sevastopol.

"The most encouraging thing, to be honest, is that the enemy is also building a powerful engineering line of defense in the east of the Crimean peninsula between the Kerch Peninsula and Crimea itself. This shows that the enemy does not trust not only its soldiers fighting in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, but also understands that the defenses in the north of the peninsula can be broken through. If the Ukrainian Armed Forces break through to the steppe Crimea, they can be stopped on the approaches to the Crimean Mountains, near Sevastopol, and in the east near the isthmus of the Kerch Peninsula. That is, the enemy is afraid of us," emphasized Pavlo Lakiychuk.

• On October 14, a report by the American Institute for the Study of War stated that Russian troops are preparing for defense in the occupied part of the Kherson region and Crimea amid concerns about a possible future attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to cross the Dnipro River
• On October 15, the Russian military installed special barriers at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, where the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea is located
• On October 17, the Atesh guerilla movement's Telegram channel reported that Russia was preparing to defend Crimea and was deploying significant forces to Dzhankoi.