Russia appears to be preparing for an attack on Kyiv, the British Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.

The Russian military, which since last week has been standing in a vehicle column over 60 km long a couple of miles from Kyiv, is said to have spread.

Vehicles, tanks and artillery have been relocated and seen in communities near Hostomel Airport, north of Kyiv.

There are two main alternatives, says Karlis Neretnieks.

- They surround and enclose Kyiv and starve the city.

An old-fashioned siege.

You do not enter the city.

In the end, the city has to capitulate in the absence of food, water and more.

Take the city

The second option is to take the city with soldiers on the ground and artillery destroying.

- It is on the ground that everything happens.

Air strikes are not an optimal resource.

It's artillery.

You shoot block by block.

Then you clean up the block.

Then you take the next block, break it into small pieces and then you clean it.

And so you take the next block.

So there you go and work your way up systematically.

He continues:

- The way to save the lives of your own soldiers, the lives of Russian soldiers, is to use a lot of artillery fire, shoot as much as possible before entering the ground.

- If there are people left in the houses, there will be huge civilian losses.

Ukrainians cross a ruined bridge in Irpin, 25 kilometers northwest of Kyiv.

Photo: AP / Efrem Lukatsky March 11, 2022

The war in Chechnya

He makes a comparison with the war in Chechnya when Russia took over the capital Grozny in the winter of 1999 to 2000.

- Then they used this method to systematically break up block by block and then they went in with ground troops.

Grozny had about 400,000 inhabitants when the Soviet Union dissolved.

Most tried to escape during the Russian attack.

The civilian casualties are estimated at around 7,000 to 8,000 civilian deaths.

The figures are still quite uncertain.

Kyiv was home to about 2.8 million people before fleeing.

When do we know what method Russia can use?

- We do not know.

We will see what the Russians do.

If they succeed - that the Ukrainians do not defend the city and give up - then it's done.

- But if the Ukrainians defend the city, the Russians will probably have a very hard time.

Then it will take time.

It is only when Russia decides - is it worth the losses on the Russian side that it means to slowly try to conquer the city.