Originally Posted by
dead_pan
Have to say from the reports I have seen morale is pretty rock-bottom on both sides in the Severodonetsk pocket, which may explain why Zelensky made a visit there. It seems both sides have set the city as a defining objective. From my armchair I reckon Ukraine may be better served by letting the Russians claim it and hammering them from the heights of Lysychansk.
The answer to your view and the reason why not.
Ukrainian forces fighting for control of the twin eastern Ukrainian cites of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk are “catastrophically” short of artillery pieces, a commander in the national guard fighting in that region said on national television.
“There is no problem here that we have bad positions or we maneuver badly or choose a good position,” Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Svoboda battalion, said. “The problem is that we are catastrophically short of artillery barrels.”
Tactical retreat: The head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Hayday, suggested on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces might stage a tactical retreat in Severodonetsk. Its sister city, Lysychansk, lies on strategic high ground across the Siverskyi Donets River. Later on Wednesday, Hayday said Russia now controls most of Severodonetsk.
“With all due respect to Serhiy Hayday, this is a political opinion,” Kuzyk said. “There is a certain strategy in maneuvering: Lysychansk is on the bank above. But this is completely absurd if the crucial key issue is not resolved, and it is that the occupier has an advantage in artillery.
“If, for example, there is an order to leave Severodonetsk and keep Lysychansk, then the artillery that is currently concentrated on the part of Severodonetsk that we are holding will join the part that fires on Lysychansk, and the concentration of artillery at the positions will double. And in fact such an advantage in height will be offset by a greater concentration of artillery.”
https://edition.cnn.com/webview/euro...-22/index.html