Roundabout: how will the Russian army eliminate the Volchansk pocket

Russian troops continue to tighten the ring around the AFU units near Volchansk in the Kharkiv region, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The number of Ukrainian groups trapped in the cauldron has decreased from 1,700 to just over a thousand people over the past week, military experts interviewed by "Izvestia" note. In their opinion, the next stage may be the division of enemy forces into several isolated units. To do this, Russian units will cut communications and cut off individual garrisons, depriving them of interaction and supplies. As a result, the militants will be faced with a choice — to continue their resistance or lay down their arms. At the same time, official Kiev is still not taking public steps to save its trapped soldiers. Meanwhile, according to experts, the elimination of the encircled group will also seriously limit the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the shelling of the Belgorod region.

According to the Stalingrad scenario

Russian units are expanding the control area inside the boiler and on its outer circuit. As reported by the Russian Defense Ministry on September 14, the Russian army liberated the village of Shirokoe and is fighting for Malaya Volchya — both settlements are located in the area of the blocked AFU group.

At the same time, the Russian military is cutting the roads between individual enemy positions. This may indicate the beginning of the next stage of the operation — the division of the boiler into several isolated sections, according to military expert Vasily Dandykin. Such tactics will make it possible to consistently block individual units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and deprive them of the opportunity to interact with each other.

— This is how our troops acted in Stalingrad: the encircled German group was divided into parts. Isolated units quickly lost their combat capability and communication with the command, after which they began to surrender, trying to save their lives," Vasily Dandykin explained.

It will be increasingly difficult for the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will be isolated from each other as a result, to continue resisting, said Andrei Klintsevich, head of the Center for the Study of Military and Political Conflicts.

— As a result, the commanders of the scattered battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to make a decision on surrender. I am sure that our troops, for reasons of humanity, will provide them with such an opportunity," he said.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian artillery, aircraft and UAV operators continue to strike at the encircled units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Massive fire attacks were carried out on enemy positions in the settlements of Rybalkino and Buzovo. During the day, up to 60 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed in the encirclement. In addition, in the area of the village of Chernoe, Russian fighters destroyed an armored vehicle with a crew while trying to escape from the encirclement, the military department reported.

Active actions are being carried out both on the internal and external contours of the environment, experts say.

"The enemy will use not only armored vehicles and infantry to try to break through the ring, but also robotic platforms," Vasily Dandykin noted. — However, they are effectively hit by high-precision fire. The supply of "Baba Yaga" type cargo drones has actually been disrupted - the drones are being shot down by air defense systems. The encircled Ukrainian forces have fewer and fewer hopes for salvation every day.

"In fact, these parts are doomed"

The number of the surrounded AFU group continues to decrease. Since the beginning of the month, Russian troops have destroyed up to 460 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 13 armored vehicles, 13 ATVs, eight pickup trucks and 21 ground-based robotic complexes, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on September 14.

— If just a week ago we estimated its number at 1,700 active bayonets, now it is slightly more than a thousand people, and many of them are wounded. They cannot conduct military operations and actually become a burden to their colleagues," Vasily Dandykin explained.

The situation is similar for the AFU units in the Olkhovatka area of the Kharkiv region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, another small pocket has formed here, in which up to two enemy battalions are blocked.

— Our units have trapped them in a small village and are holding them under fire. This prevents the enemy from regrouping. In fact, these parts are doomed," said Vasily Dandykin.

The Ukrainian authorities and the command could have saved the soldiers surrounded near Volchansk and in the Olkhovatka area by ordering them to surrender, but they are not going to do this, experts interviewed by "Izvestia" believe.

According to military expert Vadim Kozyulin, the political leadership of Ukraine, as part of the information war, decided not to focus on the problem of surrounded units.

— Now they are trying to deny all the negative news for them — this tactic has been chosen, — he explained.

In fact, Vasily Dandykin believes that the Kiev regime has already buried its soldiers, and the leadership is not interested in their lives. The destruction or capture of the Volchansk group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will deal a severe blow to the moral and psychological state of the Ukrainian military on the entire front, the expert notes.

How will the situation develop

In the Kharkiv region, the Russian army has achieved success in other areas. Last week, the urban-type settlements of Kazachya Lopan and Goptovka, located just over 20 km north of the outskirts of the regional center, were liberated. They are located on an important highway leading to Kharkiv. In addition, the advance of Russian troops in this direction seriously limits the capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to bombard Shebekino and other settlements in the Belgorod region.

The situation is difficult for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in other strategic areas. In the Zaporizhia region, the Ukrainian garrison in Orekhovo may be completely isolated at any moment. His defeat will open the way for Russian troops to the regional center and will be a serious blow to militant positions in the south of the SVR zone.

Russian troops are steadily advancing in the Druzhkovka area and the Kramatorsk-Slavyansk agglomeration in the DPR. The Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed large reinforcements there, but this did not help them turn the situation around.