The troops that escape the current cauldron are leaving fortified positions that were built from 2014 until last year.
Many or most of the best-trained and combat-experienced UAF soldiers are dead or otherwise out of the fight (wounded or captured.)
Their fallback positions are only cities, not prepared entrenchments, bunkers etc. The rapid collapse of Lysychansk shows that there won’t be any more bitter Mariupol battles to the end.
The new UAF troops are conscripts rushed into battle. They won’t stand and fight like the Azovites in Mariupol. Where they do stand and fight, in cities, Russians will bypass them where possible and cut them off from resupply.
Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odessa are on the table. If Kiev doesn’t negotiate soon, they will lose all Black Sea access.
“The troops that escape the current cauldron are leaving fortified positions that were built from 2014 until last year”.
An excellent point nobody bothers with.
Their fallback positions are only cities, not prepared entrenchments, bunkers etc. The rapid collapse of Lysychansk shows that there won’t be any more bitter Mariupol battles to the end.
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Great observation. Much written during the Ukie civil war 2014- present about the fortified Ukie triple lined trench systems and hardened areas. They are now over run.
Once Donbass is rolled up, the Ukies must retreat across the flat rolling plains all the way to the Dniepner….sitting ducks in a barrel is an understatement. Further complicating their retreat, not much Ukie transport left, no rail lines, many arrived to the Donbass in civilian automobiles, documented. There will NOT be any “ organized, orderly” retreat, as much as the corrupted western MSM will advertise. Remember Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow?