MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Control of Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name - Bakhmut) by Russian forces will facilitate the liberation of Avdeyevka, from where the Ukrainian army shells Donetsk, Makeyevka and Yasinovataya and the surrounding area, a military expert from the LPR, Colonel Vitaly Kiselev, said on Thursday.

"If Bakhmut falls, Avdeyevka will follow, which will make it easier for our forces to roll the enemy back in the in the area of Avdeyevka," he said on Channel One.

Kiselev added that the situation around Artyomovsk was unfavorable for the Ukrainian troops, with no chances of a counteroffensive in that city.

Artyomovsk, located in the Kiev-controlled part of the DPR, is an important transport hub for the delivery of supplies to the Ukrainian group of troops in Donbass. Fierce battles are going on for Artyomovsk. On Wednesday, military-political expert Yan Gagin, an adviser to the acting head of the DPR, said that the city was almost completely sealed off by the Russian army, whose artillery keeps all routes of approach to the city under fire. Earlier, he said that the Russian forces controlled about 70% of Artyomovsk.

The DPR’s acting head Denis Pushilin has repeatedly noted that there are no signs Ukrainian troops are going to leave Artyomovsk. Kiev claims that the city’s defense will be strengthened. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky previously stated that Ukrainian troops in Artyomovsk would not surrender and keep fighting for it as long as they can.