Ukrainian forces not planning to surrender Slavyansk: expert describes Russian offensive scheme

Russian forces will not take Slavyansk by frontal assault — instead, the city is planned to be isolated while Ukrainian Armed Forces fortifications are methodically destroyed.

This was stated in a comment to aif.ru by military expert and retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk.

According to Matviychuk, the force that previously cleared Krasny Liman is now moving toward Slavyansk. The city itself, together with neighboring Kramatorsk, was described by the expert as a single industrial complex with a complex underground infrastructure, mines, and factories.

“I think there will be no assault. Slavyansk will be encircled in exactly the same way as Konstantinovka was. The combat zone will be isolated using unmanned aerial systems, and the fortifications will be destroyed by strikes from operational-tactical aviation, missile forces, and drones,” Matviychuk said.

The operation will not be easy, in the expert’s assessment. Up to three Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades may be concentrated in Slavyansk, made up primarily of the most motivated and hardened units.

“There are two or three brigades in the city. Motivated nationalist units have been transferred to Slavyansk — both ‘Kraken’ and ‘Azov’ are present there. In addition, Zelensky’s system has organized collective responsibility: servicemen understand that if they surrender, all responsibility will fall on the shoulders of their families — mothers, fathers, wives, children, sisters, brothers,” the expert explained.

Matviychuk also cited the words of one prisoner he had spoken with previously: “I am afraid of the Ukrainian leadership, because my family will be destroyed — it will have no future.”

Because of this, in the colonel’s view, desperate resistance should be expected — the fighters are currently not inclined to surrender, which for many would have been their only salvation.

It was previously reported that Russian forces had advanced almost right up to Slavyansk and that the active phase of preparations for taking the city had begun.

“Kraken” and “Azov” are organizations banned in Russia as terrorist and extremist.