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Russian forces have expressed “panic” following significant Ukrainian advances in the Verbove area, military experts have said.
On September 22, a VDV source warned that there is a “real threat” of Ukrainian forces encircling Russian forces in the area, according to a US-based war monitoring think-tank, The Institute for the Study of War.
The VDV, also known as the Russian Airborne Forces, is the airborne forces branch of the Russian army.
The source said that Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops were within 7km of encircling the 56th VDV Regiment and that the regiment would be in a difficult position if its commander did not make a decision to withdraw from Novofedorivka to other previously prepared positions.
A VDV-affiliated source reported to the think-tank that Ukrainian forces broke into Verbove on September 22 and continued attacking the settlement with armored vehicles as of yesterday, September 24. The source later reported that Ukrainian forces occupy half of Verbove as of September 24.
The source also accused the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) of trying to conceal Ukraine’s tactical progress in Verbove, rhetorically stating: “For how long can Shoigu’s MoD hide the breakthrough in Verbove?”