DIU chief Kyrylo Budanov told how Ukraine will liberate Bakhmut, how long the counteroffensive will take in the south and what is happening in the KupyanSK direction.
Source: The Drive
The situation near Bakhmut and in the south
DIU chief Kyrylo Budanov said that the offensive operation in the south will continue as long as Ukraine has the resources.
In parallel with this, there are operations to de-occupy Bakhmut. We recently got back Klischyivka, which looks like a tiny [plot of] land, but it's important because it's on a hill overlooking another area.
According to Budanov, the next step will be blocking all supply routes to Bakhmut.
Practically, this operation we are conducting is very similar to the Russian one that took Bakhmut. The only difference is that they still led those frontal attacks on the city, leading to considerable personnel losses. We will not do that. We will try to surround the town, and only after it is surrounded, we will enter the city.
Budanov was asked whether the operation in Bakhmut aimed to restrain the Russian forces and prevent them from strengthening the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions.
Of course, and it brought the result we wanted. For example, the Russians recently redeployed their only reserve — the 25th Army, which was newly created and has not yet completed its creation. Now, it has been relocated approximately north of Bakhmut, and it is there that they plan to bury him.
The 25th Army has about 15,000 men. According to Budanov, the threat to the Russians of losing Bakhmut forces them to constantly redeploy additional forces to the city area, which has resources from other directions, such as the south.
The situation near Kupyansk
Near Kupyansk, the Russian Federation is conducting local operations that cannot be called a campaign or an offensive operation.
They had some success a few months ago, but after that, they were stopped on certain defensive lines, and nothing has happened since. Everything they have has already been thrown into the fire.
The DIU chief says that now the entire skeleton of the Russian Airborne Forces is on the defensive and is trying to restrain the movement of Ukrainian offensive groups in the south.
Before that, there were units of the 810th separate marine infantry brigade of the Russian Federation. That brigade was utterly routed, completely routed, and now they're gone, replaced by landing troops.
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