Ukrainian military command sees no need for full withdrawal from Severodonetsk
Russian troops are trying to encircle the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Severodonetsk, but there is no need for full withdrawal yet, said deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksiy Gromov at a press briefing.
"Yes, the enemy is trying to encircle our troops. All activities, all actions that are carried out by both military personnel and other units are a part of a single plan. At this time the General Staff does not see a need to withdraw our military units from these areas," he said.
"The units will perform tasks with all available forces and means, with all available resources," Gromov added.
He pointed out the risks that Ukrainian troops will face if Severodonetsk is captured by Russians. "If Severodonetsk falls, we will be forced to defend along the riverbank and will have to fight in urban areas," Gromov explained.
According to Gromov, the Ukrainian General Staff believes that Russia plans to repeat the "Syrian scenario" in Ukraine.
Gromov named the tasks that the Russian military leadership is pursuing in Ukraine.
According to him, Russians are trying to increase missile and air strikes on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, civilian, and logistics facilities, destroy civilian infrastructure as much as possible, encircle and destroy Ukrainian troops, create a land corridor from the Rostov region to Crimea and further to Transnistria, target Ukrainian logistics support routes, destroy ammunition and weapons depots, disrupt supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine.
Earlier, the head of the Luhansk regional administration, Serhiy Haidai, said that Russian troops were pushed back from several streets in Severodonetsk.