The high command is saying that and the guys on the ground echoed it today. They have moved most of their big guns out of the city and the Kadyrovites have been replaced by even greater numbers of ill-equipped mobiks.
They are sacrificing them to slow the advance, knowing full well none of them will get out alive. The Chechens have moved to the left bank and have been ordered to shoot any retreating mobiks. Savage stuff, very Stalingrad-ish.
hopefully those poor souls surrender before the actual siege begins