Ukrainian fighter: Either ‘gesture of goodwill’ or destruction - Bakhmut will be encircled

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

"The fight for Bakhmut did not go according to plan for the Russian enemy. From the very beginning, it was clear that Bakhmut was located in a lowland, with heights nearby, and it was logical to let the enemy into the city and shoot them in Bakhmut itself. Then the Russian invaders launched a massive assault, and a long battle for Bakhmut ensued. Now they are in Bakhmut, and Ukraine's artillery is on the heights. From the north in Chasiv Yar, from the south in Klishchiivka and Andriivka. The Mariupol-Donetsk-Horlivka road through Bakhmut to Sloviansk and Kharkiv is already under Ukrainian fire control," explained Sazonov.

According to him, the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway will soon be shelled as well. When the Ukrainian Armed Forces take the road under fire control, it will be much harder for the invaders to supply their troops.

"Fierce fighting continues to the north of Bakhmut near Bohdanivka and Hryhorivka, but there is Berkhivka water reservoir nearby, from where the outskirts of Bakhmut are visible. We will take all of Russia's logistics under fire control. That is, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will take Bakhmut in a ring, and the enemy has little choice - either a "gesture of goodwill" or we will destroy them, as it was in Andriivka," Sazonov emphasized.

• Major Rodion Kudriashov, deputy commander of the 3rd separate assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, noted that Russia has already replaced many brigades and units in the Bakhmut direction

• Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has lost 276,990 soldiers in the war with Ukraine