Een Washington Post deelartikel over de counter-counter [...] offensief dat de Russen rond Avdiivka trachten uit te voeren.
Russia presses counter-counteroffensive in northeast Ukraine
https://wapo.st/496TaQV
Verlies nemen is blijkbaar geen optie, het strategische belang is blijkbaar zo groot dat dit tactische fouten als het gebied volledig met manschappen laten volstromen acceptabel maakt.
“The maximum number of units of equipment used in 2014, 2015, even in 2017, when they tried to move in to Avdiivka, was about 20-30 units,” Barabash said. “Even at the beginning of the full-scale war, if I’m not mistaken, no more than 30-35 units were used. But on the 10th of October, they sent in around 100 units, and about 2,000 personnel. This was just the first day.”
Teveel manschappen heeft echter een consequentie, eentje die we nog niet wisten:
Another prominent Russian war blogger, Rybar, wrote that the large numbers of troops in the area, dug into fortified positions, made it difficult to wage “a maneuverable war” and was often resulting in “head-on” assaults.
Of teveel materieel. Mogelijk rammelt de barrage logica wat in de uitvoering. Hadden ze geen tekorten op communicatie vlak?
“Their artillery on the entire Donetsk front is very powerful,” the post read. “It creates great difficulties for the movement of Russian armored vehicles and infantry.”
Dit wil trouwens niet zeggen dat het voor Oekraïne makkelijk is.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said the situation had “worsened significantly” and that Russia was aiming to encircle Kupyansk and to reach the river, which cuts through the city.
Op een meer persoonlijk vlak:
Zhenia said that while Ukrainian forces were managing to hold the line, it appeared the Russians had learned from past mistakes, studying and using the local terrain, and gradually improving their tactics.
“There are places where we struggle to fight them and they break through,” he said. “They send so many forces here that it is difficult to even contain them. They are shooting with everything they’ve got. They approach with their tanks from multiple directions, then fly their helicopters overhead.”
In het algemeen blijft de teneur toch ook:
“Ukrainian forces retain a significant defensive presence on this axis and it is highly unlikely Russian Ground Forces will achieve a major operational breakthrough,” the memo stated, adding that Russia wanted to advance to the Oskil River and create a buffer zone around Ukraine’s Luhansk region, which is largely occupied.
Puur als tactiek, niet voor verovering van gebied, maar om de Russen uit balans te houden zetten Oekraïners verrassingsaanvallen op, waar het kan en waar het aantrekkelijk is om te doen:
But elsewhere on the front, Ukraine is actively on the offensive, inching forward through smaller, lightning infantry attacks, and painstakingly taking one Russian position at a time.
These surprise attacks, commanders said, are designed to pressure the Russians, distract them, and force them to redeploy, potentially creating weaker points elsewhere on the front that Ukraine can break through.
Oekraïne is niet van plan ook maar ergens heen te gaan. Over stoïcijns gesproken, let ook op de kat op de onderste foto.