The Russians are trying to bypass Liman from different directions in order to then advance towards Slavyansk, the Dnepr OSUV reported.
Russian invaders are trying to establish fire control over the northern outskirts of the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region and the approaches to it. This was stated by OSUV Dnepr representative Oleksiy Belsky in a commentary to Ukrinform on Monday, September 8.
Asked whether he could confirm that the enemy was continuing to try to gain fire control over the northern outskirts of Slavyansk and the approaches to it, Belsky said: "Yes, I can confirm that."
Regarding reports of allegedly increased activity of enemy FPV drones in the Liman-Raigorodok-Slavyansk direction, the representative noted that the use of such UAVs by the occupiers is constant, but no significant increase in this type of activity has been observed.
"I wouldn't say that it (the use of FPV drones – ed.) was particularly active. They constantly use regular FPV, and more and more FPV on fiber optics," Belsky said.
He recalled that the Russians are essentially continuing their summer campaign, and “since 2014, Slavyansk has been a kind of fetish for them.”
According to the representative, the Russians are trying to bypass Liman from different directions in order to subsequently advance towards Slavyansk.
"They can approach Slavyansk itself, they come from the northeast, from the side of Seversk, from the northeast - this is from Liman, where they are showing extremely serious activity. They tried to break through to it - it does not work, then they begin to try to break through from the south, and from the northwest: first take Liman and go directly to Donetsk Raygorodok, Nikolaevka and directly to the outskirts of Slavyansk, or from the north through Svyatogorsk go down. As options, through Kramatorsk - this is already from the south," Belsky said.
According to his assessment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back the enemy’s onslaught, which is intensifying.
"They are not succeeding, so now the top leadership of the Russian Federation, in particular the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, is putting pressure, and accordingly they (the Russian military – ed.) are increasing the pressure themselves," the representative summed up.
Let us recall that in the course of 24 hours on September 7, Russia lost more than 900 fighters