Ukrainian forces attempting to break the encirclement from outside in the northeastern part of Kharkov Region will suffer additional losses, according to an assessment by Yevgeny Lisnyak, deputy head of the Kharkov Region military-civil administration for defense and security. Around 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen remain inside the so-called Volchansk pocket.

Lisnyak told TASS that the continuing encirclement is forcing the Ukrainian military to commit reserves that, in his assessment, are already close to exhaustion. Any effort to reach the blocked units would therefore bring fresh losses for Ukrainian troops operating along the outer perimeter.

He added that once the surrounded group is eliminated, the line of contact could be pushed more than 20 kilometers away from Belgorod Region. Lisnyak said this would reduce the intensity of strikes on Shebekino and other border areas.

The territory inside the encirclement is also significant for further operations. The pocket contains 27 settlements, and control of them would expand Russian logistical capabilities and provide new positions for observation posts, according to Lisnyak.

On September 8, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces had taken control of two more settlements in Kharkov Region while continuing operations around the encircled Ukrainian group. The ministry identified them as Dolgenkoye and Berezniki.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier said that the encirclement of a Ukrainian group numbering up to 2,000 servicemen in northeastern Kharkov Region had been completed. The Volchansk pocket covers an area of 460 square kilometers.