If Illinka and the surrounding villages fall, the Russians could move north and encircle the Ukrainian garrison in Kurakhove – a key position for the defense of Ukrainians in the southern Donetsk Oblast. Read also: Russia’s total casualties in Ukraine reach 700,000 as daily losses continue “The situation is close to critical,” Forbes quotes one of the operators of the 79th Air Assault Brigade. Paratroopers here are repelling massive Russian assaults and knocking out dozens of enemy vehicles. “The massive destruction of equipment on the road to Illinka contributed to the increase in Russian los…