2024-05-02 09:29:36
Three months after Oleksandr Syrskyi took over the supreme command of the Ukrainian army, his soldiers are still fighting against Russian superiority. However, the aggressor’s units are bleeding heavily. That may be the plan, Kyiv Post analysis suggests.
Ukrainians attack Russian positions at Bakhmut | Video: Reuters
According to its author, it seems that forcing the Kremlin to pay in blood for every meter of Ukrainian land is no longer “crisis management”, but is becoming more and more the “basic structure” of the Syrian plan.
The current Ukrainian commander, among others an ethnic Russian and a Soviet veteran of Afghanistan, served in the artillery. It is the artillery ammunition that the Ukrainian defenders have not been getting for the past few months, and the occupiers are in complete control in this regard.
Syrskyj therefore had to adapt. He now commands, according to the Kyiv Post, the first ever army that not only conducts conventional ground warfare with drones – instead of tanks, artillery or bombs – but also one that has made drones carrying explosives the main weapon for killing the enemy and destroying their equipment.
According to the Ukrainians, two-thirds of the Russian tanks that the Kremlin lost in recent months were knocked out of combat by drones. Russian POWs, in turn, claim that at least one in two of their soldiers was injured or killed by the drone strike.
Russian military observers report that the Ukrainian army is now mainly waiting for the right moment to “pile up Russian bodies” and cares less about holding positions. Pro-Kremlin war blogger Vault 8 quoted information from the front in a post on April 14: “Between battles (the Ukrainians) hardly shoot at all, which gives the impression that they have nothing. But when we attack one of their positions, everything comes down on us, from 120mm [minometů] up to 155mm [houfnice],” a Russian blogger relays the experiences of the attacking occupiers.
They further zoom in on how small Ukrainian FPV drones are attacking them at that moment. “Two to four attack each of our soldiers to make sure they kill him. And when [Ukrajinci] notice that we’re trying to withdraw, they’ll immediately counterattack to get back what they’ve lost,” the Vault 8 blogger relays the Russians’ information from the front.
In an interview with the Ukrinform news agency on March 29, Syrskyi said that his goal in using drones to the maximum is not only to reduce Ukrainian losses. They are also trying to reduce the number of soldiers needed at the front, so that those who serve on it sometimes for two years can rest.
In early April, Syrskyi estimated that Russian artillery firepower would likely outnumber Ukraine’s six to one in the coming months, regardless of Western commitments to supply shells. Over the weekend, the general attracted attention by announcing that the operational and strategic situation of the Ukrainian troops at the front is deteriorating. He also admitted that Russia is making progress in places.
Syrskyj has already said that by summer his goal is to at least rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces, recruit and train thousands of new soldiers, give veterans a chance to rest. The Kyiv Post concludes by pointing out that in conversations about the army’s plans, Syrskyj never once used the word “victory”.
This phase of the war may end this year. The analyst warns against “maneuvers” in Kyiv. (Full article with video here)
Professor of war studies Michael Clarke described what the future of the war in Ukraine could look like Video: Reuters