The Russian army has taken several positions around the power plant. There are also sandbags to protect your soldiers when they open fire. Bolder doesn’t expect Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive to focus on the area around the nuclear power plant, but rather the area around it. “That’s how they cut off supplies to the Russians to starve them.”
Human shield
According to Bolder, the evacuated people will serve as human shields in other areas, in order to slow down a Ukrainian counterattack. “The Russians do it mainly to keep the civilian population under pressure,” says Bolder. “That’s how they show who’s boss there.”
“There is little Russian activity on the front itself, except for artillery fire and rocket and drone strikes.”
According to Bolder, Russia has the greatest difficulty carrying out various actions, the emphasis seems to be more on preserving what it has. “You see it in the defensive positions that have been set up, just like the trenches, anti-tank ditches and minefields. There is little Russian activity on the front itself, except for artillery fire and rocket and drone strikes,” Bolder says.
Ukrainian counterattack
“If you also get Ukrainian citizens this way, you can tell Ukraine that its own citizens can become victims.” The question is where the citizens of Ukraine will be taken. “Ukrainians don’t tell them where they want to go, they will find a place somewhere where it will be easier to do it. Maybe the Russians also found a similar place, but they don’t have time to build defensive positions anymore, so they put Ukrainian civilians there to make sure the Ukrainians don’t attack there anyway.’
On the ground there is still fighting only around the towns of Bachmoet and Avdiivka. “It looks like they still want to try and catch Bachmoet on May 9,” Bolder says. On that day, Russia commemorates the end of World War II and is a national holiday.
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