President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bakhmut.

According to British intelligence, the Russian offensive near Bakhmut is slowing down because, according to them, the Russian command was forced to transfer several of its units from there to other directions.

In an interview with TSN.ua, military expert Oleg Zhdanov told why Russians need Avdiyivka.

"Avdiivka is an obstacle for further progress towards the administrative border of Donetsk region. First of all, Avdiivka is now a very good bridgehead for us in terms of the liberation of Donetsk. It actually gives our artillery the opportunity to work, actually reaching the outskirts of Donetsk, especially ammunition depots, fuel -lubricants, etc. I think that the Russians switched to Avdiivka precisely because they realized that they would not cook porridge with Bakhmut," Zhdanov noted.

According to the expert, the Russians cannot continue to burn their own reserves in Bakhmut.

And in the Kremlin, most likely, they demand some results.

"In a week, we have to set a new deadline for the capture of Donetsk region. They took a break for the New Year's holidays, and in fact they had about two months left in mobilization. Today, they are beginning to feel it, the subscription of the mobilized has broken a little," Zhdanov noted. 

He reminded that the day before there was information that Russia was "overwhelmed" by a wave of subpoenas.

And they want to collect 500,000 by May.

Zhdanov assumed the possibility that the occupiers will again "play the autumn game", when the first 100 thousand will be suicide bombers and they will simply throw them from the Military Commissariat to the front line to replenish the losses.

But it doesn't work.

Therefore, they realized that on the Bakhmut direction they burned a lot of reserve, in fact "exhaled" and realized that they would take at least one more kilometer, but they could not close the ring around Bakhmut.

According to the expert, there were no active hostilities in the Avdiyiv direction.

"Why not resume offensive actions there?... I think that they have not transferred so many forces there. It's all the same - bypassing the flanks and trying to surround Avdiivka. Yes, now the direction of the main strike from the Russian side will change. We have many options for action in this case," he added.

We will remind, instead of really announcing a mass mobilization in September 2022 and bringing the army to 2 million, the Kremlin decided that the tactics of killing civilians and destroying critical infrastructure will help win the war against Ukraine.

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