UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 96 - MAY 25, 2022

Some pro-Russian milbloggers on Telegram continued to criticize the Kremlin for the appalling treatment of forcibly mobilized soldiers of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR) - contradicting Russian information campaigns about the progress of the Russian military special operation. Former Russian Federal Security Service officer Igor Girkin (also known by the pseudonym Igor Strelkov) spread the criticism of a smaller milblogger to his 360,000 followers, discussing a video in which a DNR battalion appealed to DNR leader Denis Pushilin to mistreat the forcibly mobilized forces.

This milblogger accused the Russian leadership, not Pushilin, of starting the invasion with inadequate reserves and unprepared, heavily mobilized forces. The milblogger added that Russia did not provide new weapons to the soldiers of its proxy republics, even though Ukrainian forces had been preparing for an attack on the occupied areas in the Donbas for a year before the Russian invasion. The milblogger also claimed that the Kremlin failed to mobilize and prepare the next reserves adequately, while Ukrainian forces successfully prepared their troops for counterattacks.

Girkin also criticized the Kremlin for not paying the DNR battalion for three months. Some milbloggers claimed that the video was staged by Ukrainian forces, but the video still caught the attention of pro-Russian Telegram users.

The Russian forces focused on advances east and west of Popasna to cut off Ukrainian ground communication lines (GLOCs) southwest of Severodonetsk and complete encirclement efforts in Luhansk Oblast.

The Russian forces are likely to have entered Lyman and could use this base to coordinate with advances southeast of Izyum and launch an offensive on Siversk.

The Russian forces could begin the battle for Severodonetsk before completely cutting off the Ukrainian GLOCs southwest and northwest of Severodonetsk.

The Russian forces have attacked the city of Zaporizhia to disrupt a key logistical center for Ukrainian forces operating in the east.

The full Russian Offensive Update 95 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

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