Russia's change in tactics results in gain of more rubble

 Reuters:

It took Russia weeks of fierce fighting, an untold number of casualties, and relentless shelling before the exhausted Ukrainian defenders of Sievierodonetsk received orders to quit its smouldering wreckage.

"Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense," Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the wider region, said on Ukrainian television on Friday.

With a reported 90% of the industrial city's buildings damaged, most of its around 100,000 residents long gone, and with limited strategic value beyond a sprawling chemicals plant, it does not look like much of a prize.

But its capture, if and when officially confirmed, is likely to be hailed by Russia as evidence that its switch from its early and unsuccessful attempts at "lightning warfare" to a much slower grinding offensive which relies more on long-range shelling rather than close-quarters combat, is paying off.

Sievierodonetsk would be the biggest Ukrainian city Russia has captured since it took the port of Mariupol last month.

"Our military has changed tactics," said one Russian government official.

"They know how to do it now. Yes it's slow, but the strategy works and it means far less casualties," said the official, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak on the subject.

Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based military analyst, said the tactical change meant Moscow could commit fewer troops to offensives amid unconfirmed Western suggestions that Russia is experiencing manpower problems.
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The fall of Sievierodonetsk would leave only one other major settlement in Ukraine's Luhansk region outside the control of Russia and its proxies - the nearby twin city of Lysychansk, which lies across the Siverskyi Donets River and on high ground, making it harder to overwhelm.
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Russia's war objectives do not make much sense.  Obliterating a city to acquire rubble is of little material value and is likely to result in huge expenditures to rebuild it.