Russia's seizure of Liman probably comes from a plan to encircle Severodonetsk and close the cauldron around Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Region. The progress of Russian troops in the region is slow, but they are still making some progress.
This was reported by the Twitter of the British Ministry of Defense.
According to the report, heavy shelling of the Luhansk region now continues, with street fighting on the outskirts of Severodonetsk.
"The political goal of the Russian Federation is probably to occupy the entire territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. To achieve this goal, Russia will need to achieve success beyond Severodonetsk, including the key town of Kramatorsk and the M04 Dnepr-Donetsk main road," the report said.
British intelligence notes that units of Russia's Southern Group of Forces are likely to lead the most successful direction, supported by the Central Group of Forces, which comes from the north.
"Progress is slow, but successes persist. Russia has achieved localized successes by concentrating forces and fire in a relatively small area. But this is forcing the Russian Federation to take risks elsewhere," the report adds.
Recall that Russian troops occupied Liman as recently as late last week, but the Defense Ministry said it was too early to draw final conclusions as fierce fighting continued.
As Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to the head of the presidential office, explained, Russian troops are trying to "cut the rear" of the Ukrainian forces in this way, but so far there has been no special progress in this direction.
We would like to add that today it has already become known that part of Severodonetsk is already controlled by Russian troops.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 31 May 2022
— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) May 31, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/IQeojTdiEP
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