Russians push towards Selydove: What's happening and can Ukrainian forces hold the city?

Contents

• Escalation in Selydove
• What military says
• What's next: two possible scenarios

Escalation in Selydove

In the morning report, the General Staff commented on this section of the frontline in a restrained manner. It noted that out of 148 combat engagements over the past day, the largest number of them took place in the Pokrovsk sector near Selydove.

“The highest concentration of hostile attacks was near Selydove. The enemy was actively using bombers and attack aircraft,” the General Staff said.

According to Serhii Tsehotskyi, an officer of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk, the Russians are making progress in the area of Selydove. The enemy is constantly trying to break through the Ukrainian defense.

“Unfortunately, they have some success in some places. We will not say where exactly,” he said in the morning.

Even though Putin's troops have thrown a lot of effort, the battle for Selydove continues, Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, wrote on his Telegram channel.

“There will be videos from them with their flags In some places, but as of now, the battle for the city is still ongoing,” Kovalenko warned.

Although the presence of the Russians in Selydove has not been officially confirmed, almost half of the city is marked in red on the map made by DeepState analysts.

hoto: According to DeepState, Russian troops have advanced in Selydove (deepstatemap)

Ukrainian soldiers report the Russian presence in Selydove. For example, junior sergeant Stanislav 'Osman' Buniatov, commander of the 24th Aidar Battalion, said on his Telegram channel that the Russians were entering the city “in whole platoons.”

“Familiar FPV crews say they make 100+ flies a day purely on enemy infantry, but still cannot cope with such a flow. The enemy is infiltrating and dispersing into houses and basements,” he wrote.

What military says

According to the National Guard, Russian infantry groups are trying to infiltrate into Selydove from the eastern outskirts, but Ukrainian defenders are knocking them out and preventing them from gaining a foothold, establishing observation or firing positions.

National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk told RBC-Ukraine that the Russian troops were trying to infiltrate into Selydove, but the Defense Forces were holding the line, knocking out infantry groups from the outskirts.

“Until this week, the occupiers tried to advance more on the flanks, avoiding urban battles. However, over the past few days they have intensified their assault attempts on the northeastern and eastern outskirts of the city,” said Muzychuk.

According to him, the enemy is trying to claim control over the city districts.

“But our units are working to control and destroy the infantry trying to infiltrate the neighborhood and enter the city, in particular from the area of Mykhailivka. They are also trying to prevent the enemy from gaining a foothold, establishing observation and firing positions,” said Muzychuk.

He said that over the past day alone, Russians attacked Selydove 19 times, using a large number of soldiers.

“The enemy is also actively using aviation in Selydove. The outskirts of the city are regularly shelled by artillery, where private sector residential buildings are constantly destroyed,” says Muzychuk.

The spokesman adds that the concentration of infantry groups in the forest belts allows Russian troops to conduct reconnaissance by combat, attacking new areas.

What's next: two possible scenarios

The main problem is that Russia has a serious advantage in manpower and is not too worried about suffering huge losses, Vladyslav Seleznov, a military expert and former spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, explained to RBC-Ukraine.

“In other words, the Russians are exchanging a square kilometer of Ukrainian territory for the lives of their soldiers. They are also actively using aviation and artillery, destroying houses in the territory of this settlement,” said Seleznov.

Now they are trying to cut off all the ways of logistics support for the Ukrainian garrison in Selydove. According to the expert, control over the city depends on whether Ukraine manages to maintain control over the routes that are currently used for supply.

“It is already complicated because all the roads are being under shelling by the Russian army. And if the situation tends to deteriorate, we will most likely see a maneuverable defense by the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” says Seleznov.

He explains that it is impossible to hold defensive lines for a long time when you are surrounded. But this probability depends on whether the enemy has enough resources to attack.

“There are two options here. Either we hold these logistics routes that we are currently using. Or, if we lose them, we will most likely see Ukrainian forces literally fight their way out of the encirclement near Selydove. There is such a possibility,” the source said.

He drew attention to the fact that the enemy was acting in a complex manner, conducting flanking attacks, trying to encircle the Ukrainian garrison in Selydove, and conducting assault operations literally head-on.

“I have to acknowledge that the tactics of small infantry groups are showing signs. The enemy is literally seeping through our defensive lines and positions, occupying new buildings, pulling up reserves, and continuing to advance,” Seleznov said.

According to him, Russia's goal is obvious - step by step, they are trying to occupy the entire territory of the Donetsk region. The capture of Selydove would give them another direction for attacks, namely on Pokrovsk.

“In other words, the M04 highway, which runs past Selydove, could become a key direction from which the enemy could attack towards Pokrovsk. But it is not yet known whether the enemy will have enough of its own resources for this purpose,” the expert summarized.

Photo: The Russian army is trying to capture Selydove to open the way to Pokrovsk from the south (deepstatemap)

Sources: General Staff reports, a statement by an officer of the 59th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Telegram channels of the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation Andrii Kovalenko and the commander of the 24th Aidar Special Forces Battalion, DeepState, as well as exclusive comments by National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk and military expert Vladyslav Seleznov.