LUGANSK, July 13. /TASS/. After Nikolayevka was liberated earlier on Sunday, Russian fighters have around 2.5 kilometers to go to reach the outskirts of Dimitrov (known as Mirnograd in Ukraine), Russian military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS.
"Despite the fact that Nikolayevka is situated in a low place, it is an important locality indeed. Its liberation has opened some operational space to us and a more or less safe route to Dimitrov. [Russian forces] have around 2.5 kilometers to go to reach Dimitrov from Nikolayevka," he said.
The military expert noted that reducing the distance to Dimitrov allows the Russian army to "use a lot of types and means of weapons" to attack a group of Ukrainian armed forces stationed in the city.
"Moreover, there is a Novoekonomicheskoye north of Nikolayevka, which [upon its liberation] will cut off the logistics routes of the Ukrainian militants and, in principle, close a fairly wide section of the front. So, with the liberation of Nikolayevka, we have ways to move both north, west, and south from this settlement," he said.