GENEVA, January 23. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces are now facing the risk of an encirclement in the vicinity of the settlement of Velikaya Novosyolka in the south of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) due to their command’s delayed decision-making regarding the retreat, the Swiss Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper reported.
"The current situation resembles the intense fighting withdrawal near Avdeyevka a year ago and near Ugledar in October. In both instances, the [Ukrainian] high command waited excessively long in a desperate situation and issued a retreat order too late," the article observed.
The newspaper emphasized that Ukrainian forces in Velikaya Novosyolka have been cut off from their supply route. The Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the settlement can "only hope to reach a safe place on foot," abandoning heavy armor.
"Following the pending fall of Chasov Yar and Velikaya Novosyolka, the Russian Armed Forces will likely be able to capitalize on their advantage to press forward even more than before. There are few topographic obstacles north of Velikaya Novosyolka," the publication noted. It added that the border between the DPR and the Dnepropetrovsk Region "is 20 kilometers away."
The outlet highlighted that the situation in eastern Ukraine for its armed forces has sharply deteriorated in recent days, as the Russian Armed Forces are advancing in the area of the city of Krasnoarmeysk (known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine) and will soon be able to cut off Ukrainian troops from supply lines there as well.
On January 20, Russian security services told TASS that the Ukrainian armed forces were experiencing losses near Velikaya Novosyolka, as all lines of retreat had been blocked. Furthermore, one group of Ukrainian troops remains trapped in the settlement itself, and a mop-up operation is being carried out.