Ukraine fighters who defended Mariupol, now in Russian hands, are registered as prisoners of war

Nope. Once registered with the Red Cross, they are safe under the Geneva Conventions.

Not saying it can't happen, but it would be a huge breach of international law. One that Russia won't survive.

"- South of Izyum, units of the RF Armed Forces and LDPR are still "bashing head-on" against the Ukrainian defences on the approaches to the Sloviansk-Barvenkovo ​​highway and to Sloviansk itself (in the last couple of days there is no information about progress);

- Heavy battles with a slow advance are taking place north of Popasna and south of Lisichansk (there is no discussion of any “cauldron” for the enemy in this area yet - so far only a possible “bag” with a very wide “neck” is appearing, which our fighters will still need to “tie up”, and the enemy is well aware of this - the UAF are not led by morons, but by specialists from NATO);

- Also slowly, our troops are "encircling" the city of Lyman (Krasnyi Lyman) and trying to break through to Svyatogorsk;

- Near Donetsk, fierce attacks continue northeast of Avdiivka and southwest of Horlivka, in the area south of Maryinka, I have no information about the progress in the last 24 hours (so far, at least).

- In Maruipol, the final surrender of Azovstal by the enemy and the capture of the group defending it is a major propaganda success, but - in the overall picture - it is a delayed consequence of the relative success of the FIRST stage of the operation, and not the "Second Concrete" one. In real time and from a military point of view, this is also, unfortunately, a purely tactical success. No more.


As a general conclusion: our successes are still exclusively tactical in nature. The enemy is trying to keep ALL large settlements important in military and informational-propagandist sense. And - apparently - has enough strength and reserves to hope for success in this. If not complete success, then at least partial. The "attrition battle" (as I have repeatedly noted - as a military decision, I rate it no higher than "idiotic") in the Donbas continues and the "strategic impasse" (for the RF Armed Forces, but not for the UAF, who are gaining time) is getting deeper."