According to him, if possible, Ukrainian troops can enter the city.

There is no particular problem in Donetsk – there are no Russian troops there. Russian garrisons are mainly concentrated in industrial areas. In August 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached the heights near Donetsk and inflicted fire damage on accumulations of equipment. If possible, Ukrainian troops can enter the city.

This opinion was expressed by military expert Oleg Zhdanov in the new issue of the Argument program on  the UNIAN YouTube channel .

The second option, according to Zhdanov, for the liberation of Donetsk and other large cities in the Donbass, which have been under Russian occupation for a long time, is bypassing, encircling and attrition tactics. 

“We can move between cities, and simply besiege cities and force the enemy to capitulate or leave in advance so as not to be surrounded. There are many options. The only question is the availability of reserves and the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the expert noted.

As for the cleansing of the region from collaborators, enemy DRGs and other enemies of Ukraine, Zhdanov believes that it is necessary to follow the experience of international law: create temporary commissions in these territories that will play the role of local councils.

“At these commissions, create legal departments that will determine the amnesty. The entire population must go through these commissions. Those who committed a crime and took up arms – without options should leave together with the Russian troops on the territory of the Russian Federation, or they will have to bear a criminal responsibility for the crimes committed. And the main population, who lived under the occupation and did not commit a crime, will have no problems for them. The Commission will amnesty this person, he will be given documents from the state of Ukraine and he will continue his life,” Zhdanov believes. 

Otherwise, according to the expert, counterintelligence will work.

“The main thing for us is to reach the state border and strengthen it in order to make it impossible for other attempts to invade Ukraine. And I think we will figure out the internal order,” Zhdanov summed up. 

Situation in Donbass: the essentials

Ukrainian defenders  began to liberate the Lugansk region. 

As UNIAN reported earlier, on October 1, President of Ukraine  Volodymyr Zelensky  said that the Ukrainian military had already raised the state flag in Liman, Donetsk region, but there were still fighting there. On the afternoon of October 2, the head of state announced that Liman had been completely cleared of Russian troops.

According to the head of the Lugansk OVA, Sergei Gaidai, after Liman, the Armed Forces  of Ukraine will release Kremennaya . And then the troops can move towards the “triangle” of the cities of Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Rubizhnoye.

The Pentagon  noted the importance of the de-occupation of Lyman . According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the city was located across the lines that the Russians used to move troops and equipment to the south and west. The absence of these routes will create difficulties for the enemy.

According to the colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the reserve, military instructor pilot Roman Svitan, Ukrainian intelligence is already successfully entering Donetsk . Russians and local separatists are shocked by the impudence of the Ukrainians.

(C)UNIAN 2022