The Russian army increases pressure in the Zaporozhye region — CNN

The Russian Armed Forces are increasing pressure in the Zaporozhye region, in recent weeks Russian troops have occupied hundreds of square kilometers of territory. This is reported by CNN.

The Russian army is advancing through open countryside in several areas of Zaporozhye. The situation in the region is tense, one of the SBU officers with the call sign Banker told the TV channel.

"The enemy is trying to strengthen its negotiating position by trying to seize more territory," the banker said.

It is noted that most of the recent fighting took place in the city of Gulyai-Pole and its surroundings. On Sunday, Colonel-General Andrei Ivanaev reported at a meeting held by President Vladimir Putin that the city was under full control. RF Armed Forces. According to Ivanaev, the troops of the Vostok group, which he commands, have occupied more than 210 square kilometers of territory in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions since the beginning of December.

What happened in Gulyai-Pole is very significant, the TV channel notes. According to several commentators, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are significantly outnumbered by the Russian Armed Forces in some sections of the front line of 1,000 km and are having difficulty mobilizing additional forces to compensate for losses.

"This means that commanders have to make difficult decisions about where to attack, where to defend and where to hope that the Russians will not take advantage of gaps in the Ukrainian lines. It cannot be expected that several battalions of the Defense Forces will be able to contain the Russian motorized rifle brigade, especially if the TRO does not receive strong support from neighboring artillery and unmanned units," said analyst David Aks.

The deterioration of the situation in the Zaporozhye region was also probably facilitated by the lack of coordinated command among the Ukrainian forces in the south and the decision to give priority to the defense of other areas, such as Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) and Kupyansk, Aks believes. In mid-December, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command redirected several elite units to Gulyai-Pole, but "it was too little and too late" to save the city, he added.