AFU Colonel: The collapse of the Russian southern bridgehead begins

The occupiers will have to make a "goodwill gesture".

Attempts by the Russian occupants to strengthen their defences in the southern direction indicate that they are preparing for an offensive by the AFU and assume that they may not be able to retain control over this territory, military expert, AFU reserve colonel Petro Chernik said in an interview with Espreso.TV.

The AFU reserve colonel also explained that the operational encirclement in which Bakhmut will soon find itself will be the cause of the collapse of the front.

The military expert announced important events for us in the southern direction of the front: "Let's find out what is really happening. The Russians have begun to realise that the southern bridgehead may collapse and that they will have to make a "goodwill gesture". The main argument for this is the fact that they are fortifying the Perekop isthmus very strongly and really and are building very serious lines of defence there. If they realised that they would hold the southern bridgehead, they would not do it, because there are already problems of resource scarcity. The minimum they understand is to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions: they will not give up this strategic idea.

Meanwhile, Pyotr Chernik explained the conditions under which the front could collapse: "The second point of analysis: they have taken Bakhmut, they have reduced it to rubble, but they cannot advance any further. Bakhmut is politically important; Putin has awarded some of his under-heroes there, so they cannot get out. We are slowly but surely moving towards the operational encirclement of this strategic point. Once that happens, the first cascading collapse of the front, the very real one, could happen".