ISW explains why occupiers started talking about "freezing" the front line in Ukraine

Traitor to Ukraine Oleksandr Khodakovskyi, a former SSU officer who now commands the occupiers' Vostok battalion, called for Russian troops to "freeze" the front line. He explained this initiative by the need to replace the exhausted mobilized personnel with fresh forces - contract soldiers - and then launch a new offensive. Such statements confirm the aggressor's intention to take advantage of any pause on the battlefield.

This is stated in a report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on October 12. Analysts noted that the day before, Khodakovskyi said that Russian troops could conduct a "deliberate final phase" to end the war after replacing "tired" units with contract soldiers.

"This is consistent with ISW's long-standing assessment that Russian forces are likely to take advantage of any short- or long-term freeze to refresh their forces and resume fighting later," the report said.

Khodakovskyi also noted that Russian troops are likely to face effective Ukrainian defense and resistance if the occupiers try to move further west in Ukraine, ISW added.

The analysts also recalled that another terrorist, the now-imprisoned Igor Girkin, has consistently stated that a certain faction of the Russian government, of which Khodakovskyi is apparently a member, has long advocated freezing the current front line in Ukraine.

On October 9, Girkin said that Russian troops would continue to conduct strategic defense to freeze the front lines ahead of the March 2024 presidential election in Russia.

As a reminder, collaborator Khodakovskyi was formerly the commander of the SSU's Alpha special forces unit in the Donetsk region. In 2014, he supported the terrorist "DPR" and subsequently held senior positions there, including the "DPR Security Service" and even the "DPR Ministry of State Security". Khodakovskyi participated in the blockade of Mariupol on the side of Russian terrorists.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the world to prevent Russia from having the opportunity to freeze the war. "The aggressor uses the pause to build up its military potential, and then not only Ukraine will become its target," he warned.

- Earlier, the head of the OP, Andriy Yermak, emphasized that freezing the war is out of the question. Russian troops must be withdrawn from Ukraine, which is the formula for peace, and this is the only way to do it, he said.

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