Objectively speaking, that was a smart move particularly if his troops can “batten down the hatches” and wait until those in the underground tunnels are ready to peacefully emerge.
I did not think he was rational enough to do this. Had he attacked the Ukies could have recalled for all the image of the grain elevator at Stalingrad. A very powerful memory in all of what used to be the Soviet Union. A rallying point, like the Alamo for Texicans.
Right. They will have about 20 more days left.
Unless they got a hell of a lot of food and water.
There were a hell of a lot of Japanese entombed within caves in the South Pacific Islands by our boys during WW2.
Well, it would be a smart move if the whole Ukrainian army were penned up in there, but they are not.
So this is just tying down Russian troops who will now be unable to do anything but siege that plant for the foreseeable future, while the Ukrainian forces are not likewise constrained.