2023-06-23 01:00:23
The Ukrainian forces continue their counterattack without achieving significant progress in the recent battles, especially on the southern front. What are the reasons for this, and how did Russia slow down Kiev’s military operations?
Hoffman Marchenko, an expert at the Russian National Center for Military Studies, says that Moscow adopted a plan of deception and investment of time in the south, and took care to secure the four regions that it annexed to its control in previous months, in preparation for the Ukrainian counterattack.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Marchenko explained the steps taken by Russia, namely:
The construction of 2,000 kilometers of fortifications stretching from the Russian border with Belarus to the Dnipro River, and defense systems were concentrated in Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk to the south. Russia launched several defense levels in Zaporizhya, the first is 150 kilometers long, extends from the southeast of “Zaporizhia” to the Donetsk border and consists of multiple layers of barriers and fortifications, while the second level extends for more than 130 kilometers from the city of Orlyansky to Belmak. The Donetsk front is characterized by heavy defensive fortifications, in addition to its complex terrain, and its proximity to Russia, which makes it difficult for any Ukrainian endeavor to penetrate that front. The defense system in Donetsk relies on 3 main cities (Donetsk, Makivka, and Horlivka). Trenches, mines, and barbed wire enhance the Russian defensive pattern, and firepower such as cannons, anti-tanks, and air defense systems support defensive capabilities. Geography and terrain affect and give the plains and open fields an offensive advantage for the Russians, for ease of vision and maneuver, and the possibility of concentrating forces on targeted points, while dense forests, mountainous terrain and swamps impede the movement of the attacking Ukrainian forces, which provides a defensive advantage for the Russian forces in the south.
Is the momentum back to the battles of the south?
With frequent news and reports of a major failure in the first stages of the counterattack, the researcher in Russian-Ukrainian affairs, Dr. Basil Al-Hajj Jassim, believes that the Russian forces have succeeded in building effective and tight defense lines in the southern regions.
According to Jasim, this is evident from the clear state of harmony between Russian offensive weapons and defensive fortifications, and Russia’s strong fire range, which allowed it to cover most of the controlled areas without extensive losses in equipment and soldiers.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Jassim confirmed that the Russian defensive means “were able to attract Ukrainian forces and Western equipment to targeted areas, which suffered heavy losses in armored vehicles during the recent period, and the counterattack that the American and European media praised only achieved limited areas of land.” Within two weeks”.
There are expectations that the Ukrainian attack will resume its momentum strongly during the coming period with the continuation of Western support, and with the continued supply of weapons, ammunition and equipment, as well as intelligence information regarding the positioning of Russian forces and satellite images that serve Ukraine in the war once morest Russia.
Bakhmut’s mistake
Watling Kudrakhin, a specialist in international affairs at the National University of Odessa, believes that the Ukrainian forces knew that their Russian counterparts were preparing defensive lines to counter the anticipated counterattack, yet they adopted some wrong tactics, and others that were not appropriate to the nature of the battlefield, and the result was massive losses on the southern and eastern axis.
Kudrakhin explained, in statements to “Sky News Arabia”, that Russia used the method of dispersing the Ukrainian mobilization effort in more than one course of war to prevent the accumulation of forces and the ability to confront, and to miss the opportunity for the West to win any decisive battle in Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk or Solidar, while it was Things are getting ready for a long war in the city of Bakhmut.
According to Kiev, its forces have advanced up to 7 kilometers into Russian lines, liberating 8 villages and 113 square kilometers of territory.
Ukraine has launched offensives across the 1,000-km front line in its long-awaited counter-offensive to recapture 18 percent of the territory under Russian forces’ control, but is mainly focused on Zaporizhia.
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