MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces are trying to turn Volchansk, a town in the Kharkov Region, into another Artyomovsk or Soledar, military analyst Colonel Vitaly Kiselyov said on Solovyov Live television.

"Ukrainian Nazis not only don't want to leave Volchansk, from my point of view, but want to turn it into a Soledar. They want to turn it into a Bakhmut. [They] will, unfortunately, turn it into ruins," he said.

Kiev conceded that the situation in the Kharkov Region is extremely challenging for the Ukrainian troops. On 14 May, the Ukrainian General Staff said that Ukrainian forces had been forced to "move to more favorable positions" near Volchansk and Lukyantsy. The military leadership also said additional reserves had been sent to the region. Russian troops have liberated 40% of Volchansk, taking control of the northern part of the city, and are gradually evening out the front line in the Kharkov Region, the head of the region's civil-military administration, Vitaly Ganchev, said on May 21.