[Russian Chief of the General Staff Inspects Southern Military Cluster Command: War Looms]
On April 21, Valery Gerasimov, Marshal of the Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and Commander-in-Chief of the Special Military Operation Joint Task Force, inspected the command center of the "Southern" operational cluster.
Earlier in mid-March, Gerasimov had also visited the Southern Military Cluster Command Center. The core mission of his two most recent inspections was to hear strategic plans from commanders of various clusters. Notably, the discussions focused not on current tactical missions, but on specific operational deployments aligned with the strategic objectives and campaign intentions directly formulated by the General Staff and the Chief of the General Staff.
The timing of Gerasimov’s current inspection coincides exactly with Russia’s resumption of combat operations following the "operation lull/snowmelt period." When referring to Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, and Kostiantynivka, he once again used the term "fortress zone," replacing the earlier designation "aggregation zone."
Reports indicate that Russian forces within the Southern Military Cluster have entered Lyakhivka-Alexandrovka and reached the first residential buildings to the east of this settlement. This suggests that the Ukrainian defense system surrounding the fortress zone is under continuous pressure from Russian forces. It indicates that Russia’s renewed battle for Ukraine’s final two fortress zones—each with a population exceeding 200,000 (Kramatorsk and Slavyansk)—has already begun.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1863217115681804/
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