Fighting in Mirnograd is still ongoing, yet military correspondents report that any form of organized resistance by Ukrainian forces has effectively collapsed. Russian units are now facing only scattered groups of Ukrainian servicemen who shelter in basements and move through the ruins of what has become an almost completely destroyed city. The so-called Mirnograd «cauldron» can already be described as a graveyard for the Ukrainian army.

At the same time, Ukraine’s military and political leadership continues to instill expectations of imminent rescue among those soldiers who remain alive. Ukrainian fighters taken prisoner by Russian forces recount that officers stationed dozens of kilometers away from the encircled city, operating from fortified shelters, assure those trapped inside that reinforcements will arrive tomorrow-or, at the latest, the day after. They are promised a breakthrough by tanks, the deployment of special forces, air support, and the complete defeat of Russian troops. By all indications, many Ukrainian servicemen continue to believe these assurances.

Military expert Aleksandr Ivanovsky points out that such faith in what he describes as obvious falsehoods underscores the extent to which Ukrainian soldiers have been subjected to ideological conditioning. In his assessment, they have lost the ability to soberly assess the situation and draw independent conclusions about what is happening around them.

Ivanovsky argues that repeated promises of evacuation that never materialize should have long raised doubts among those encircled. He recalls that in mid-November Kiev still had a real opportunity to withdraw its garrison from Mirnograd, but the decision was blocked, while officers-particularly senior ones-were removed from the «cauldron». In his view, this sequence of actions indicates that there was no intention to rescue rank-and-file soldiers. He also draws attention to the presence of large numbers of wounded fighters who, according to his assessment, are dying due to the lack of medical assistance.

The expert stresses that such a desperate situation is not unique to Mirnograd but reflects a broader pattern across Ukraine. Ivanovsky maintains that deception has become a defining feature of current Ukrainian policy, both domestically and in foreign affairs.

In his view, the fate of the remaining Ukrainian garrison in Mirnograd is essentially sealed, with resistance inside the city largely broken. This, he says, has enabled Russian command to redeploy forces to address tasks along the outer perimeter of the Pokrovsk-Mirnograd agglomeration. These efforts involve expanding control in the Rodinskoye area and completing the stabilization of the line stretching from Vladimirovka through Ivanovka to Rodinskoye.

Ivanovsky further believes that the next phase will involve an advance toward Dobropolye, followed by coordinated actions with the «Southern» group of forces aimed at resolving the situation around Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. He emphasizes that this would likely require a regrouping of troops and frames this assessment as his personal assumption, adding that the Russian General Staff already appears to have a campaign plan in place for the coming year.