The Russian army took over the initiative at the front due to the lack of shells, manpower and defensive lines in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The Financial Times newspaper came to this conclusion on March 28.

It is noted that the Russian military has turned to its advantage the reduction in supplies of Western ammunition and artillery to Kiev and against this background «they are achieving small and steady successes.»

As the Newspaper drew attention to.Ru», the third reason for the current situation, journalists call the depletion of Kiev’s resources in Artemovsk (Ukrainian name — Bakhmut), followed by the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023.

«This failure, along with an acute shortage of ammunition and manpower, as well as the lack of multi—level defensive structures, has now allowed the [Russian] army to seize the initiative,» the authors summarize.

On March 23, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Armed Forces of Russia liberated the settlement of Krasnoe in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The tactical position on the front edge has also been improved.

Prior to that, on March 19, the Russian army liberated the settlement of Orlovka in the Avdiivka direction, and on March 12, the settlement of Nevelskoye in the Donetsk direction was also liberated.

In May 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the liberation of Artemovsk in the DPR from Ukrainian neo-Nazis. As the adviser to the head of the DPR, Yan Gagin, later clarified, the AFU lost 50 thousand people in Artemovsk alone.