no foreign mercenaries except in Putin's army
no foreign mercenaries except in Putin's army
All but 2000 people in the villages in question were evacuated. That may be what the Ukrainians call victory and ‘control’, it’s just there’s no one left to control there.
So the map you post isn’t really accurate, at all. The majority of the Ukrainian troops is very near or on the border, and then they send raiding parties in vehicles to see how far they can get, try to get closer to the nuclear power plant. But those are ambushed, so no, your map is not at all realistic.
The mercenaries, which sound like they are courtesy of NATO, were shooting civilians and their vehicles.