Gains are not linear. They mushroom. Events are again moving too fast to follow in real time:
3 Ukrainian cities are about to fall today, with another, being encircled. 3,000 ukrainian troops have died/been wounded in last 48 hours, 800 captured. And now another encirclement;
Up to 2,000 troops blocked in Gorsky cauldron, including 1,800 military, 120 Right Sector militants, up to 80 foreign mercenaries - Russian Defense Ministry
Up to 8,000 more under direct threat of encirclement. This is a dramatic defeat for Kiev. Russia will be able to swarm many donets territories after the capture of Severodonetsk, Gorsky and Zolotoy. And now Lisichansk is on the chopping block.
Update:
About 600 Ukrainian militants, including some wounded, surrendered to the allied forces near Lisichansk, Vitaly Kiselev, Assistant Minister of the Interior of the Luhansk People's Republic
The mercs are mostly Americans and Canadians.
Latest encirclement
The futility of the situation:
Russia has an "overwhelming" advantage in the war in Ukraine - Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis on Fox News
“There is no rational reason to hope that the war can turn around, because Russia is methodically moving forward and destroying the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donbas, not just seizing territory, but destroying their ability to defend the country anywhere else. And even the total sum of all the weapons that we promised to provide much less - it is hardly a tenth of what would be the minimum necessary. And if you look only at these two things, then there is no rational path to victory for Ukraine." - Davis said in one of the most popular programs "Jesse Watters Primetime"
Groups of captured ukrainians;