📌A turning movement aims to force the abandonment of prepared defensive positions & is different from an encirclement, which aims to trap/destroy enemy forces. #Russia's slow & gradual advances don't suggest they will soon encircle #Bakhmut, much less take it by frontal assaults 
https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1632177882779844609
2/ The #Russians have, rather, managed to push close enough to critical ground lines of communication from the northeast to threaten Ukrainian withdrawal routes from #Bakhmut in a classical turning movement.
3/ The Russians may have intended to encircle #Ukrainian forces in #Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian command has signaled that it will likely withdraw rather than risk an encirclement.
4/ ISW assesses that #Ukrainian forces are far more likely to withdraw than to become encircled and that the Ukrainians might still be able to hold their positions in #Bakhmut if they choose to try.
5/ Russian forces have been suffering high casualties in these advances.
6/ #Ukrainian commanders’ assessments of the likelihood that they can force Russian attacks to culminate near or behind their current positions balanced against the risk of losing access to essential withdrawal routes will likely guide the Ukrainian decision to stay or pull back.
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