In the late Spring of 2022, Russian forces who retreated from northern Ukraine after failure to take the capital, Kyiv, shift their focus to the eastern part of the country, Donbas. Here, since 2014, parts of Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been occupied by Russian proxy states, LPR and DPR. On the border with them, Ukraine has some of its most capable troops, well dug in and reinforced prior to the invasion, as limited advance in Donbas was seen as one of the alternatives to what actually happened, fullscale war. After the redeployment of troops which failed to take Kyiv to eastern Ukraine, new Russia's strategy is to encircle Ukrainian forces on the east, destroying them once and for all, and annex the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions which will open the road to further conquest of central Ukraine. Even more ambitious plans circulate with a commander of Russia's Central Military District, Rustam Minnekayev, declaring that the aim of the "second phase" of the socalled Special Military Operation is to fully seize Donbas and Southern Ukraine, establishing a land corridor with Transnistria. On April 10th, Russian army general Aleksandr Dvornikov is appointed as a commander of all military operations in Ukraine. Move that further emphasizes the Russian plans to shrug off defeats of the past and regain momentum. Completely ignoring the enemy’s capabilities and how wellfortified and urbanized Donbas actually is, the Russians decide to attack in the direction of key cities of Sloviyansk and Kramatorsk, focusing their efforts on Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk first.

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