Wars are not won only in big battles. Heroic gestures and small tactical victories can have a huge impact on the morale of the troops, the battle strategy, or the psyche of the citizens who support the rest. In these two twelve months, there were endless moments like this: from the Ukrainian flag flying on the island of Little Snake to the sinking of Moscow, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet; From the epic battle of Azovstal to the Russian conquests of Port or Soledar. But at the same time, there was a series of massive attacks and counterattacks that determined the course of the war and the current state of the map of tortured Ukraine.
1. Battle of Kyiv
From the first hours of the occupation, the Kremlin’s armored troops attacked the northern flank of the city, while its paratroopers tried to take the military airspace of Hostomel, which would serve as a landing site for airborne troops. But early on, they stumbled upon something. durability more capable than expected. Both from the Ukrainian military and civilian volunteers who used creativity to compensate for their armed weaknesses.
Local forces blew up the dam north of the capital, flooded roads in the west, bridges over the Irpin River, and ambushed in the east. At times, drones were critical and blitzkreig I’m stuck to make way position battle devastated several towns in the suburbs.
Inside bucha and in other towns occupied by the Russians for more than a month, brutality was normal until the Kremlin ordered a retreat.
2. Mariupol Cemetery
The capture of Mariupol, a Russian-speaking city of more than half a million, close to the Russian borders, was a crucial strategic objective for the Kremlin from the very beginning. allowed it to set up. cross country runner contact Crimea and the eastern regions of the Donbas and their conquests in the south. Based on it took constant bombardmentnumerical superiority and a siege that leaves the city hungry, frozen and in perpetual terror is a tactic he will repeat in Chernigov (north).
The conflict ended with the surrender of the last Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Azovstal, a facility with kilometers of tunnels and underground shelters. Their weeks of resistance slowed the momentum of the Russian offensive and strengthened the mood among the local population of the controversial Azov Battalion, which in the eyes of the Ukrainians was the most capable force of their Armies.
3. The battle for the Donbas
According to some Western intelligence estimates, it’s hard to imagine that the Kremlin would agree to a negotiated settlement of the conflict unless it at least snatches the loot from the Donbas, where its next offensive will take place. All his efforts are concentrated in Istanbul, which is now an industrial city. bakhmut (Donetsk), already converted the longest battle of this war and one of the gates for his forces to advance towards Kramatorsk and other parts of Donetsk.
It will probably be more difficult for the Ukrainians to retake Donbas than in other Russian-occupied territories. The latter has been installed there since 2014, knows the area well and has set up multiple defenses. The cost is very high for the population that has not yet left the region after nine years of war.
4. Kharkiv, the first major blow of the counteroffensive
“You will wage war with weapons of deception.” One of the slogans of the Israeli Mossad served the Ukrainians. counterattack in Kharkov. In the spring and summer of 2022, the leadership in Kiev began to telegraph its intention to launch a major operation to try to retake the occupied areas in the south of the country, but when the time came, counterattacks began almost simultaneously. south and northeast was something the Kremlin did not take into account.
Kiev recaptured the entire province, which had been evacuated from Russian troops in early October, in just a few weeks. Completely defeated, the Kremlin took action to announce the decision. Illegal annexation of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts, none of which, except the first, were completely controlled by his troops. At the ceremony in Moscow, Putin declared that they “will forever be a part of Russia”.
5. Victory is possible: Kiev recaptured the right bank of Kherson
After the fall of Kherson, the only provincial capital under Russian control, a cartographic analysis by ‘The New Times’ indicated that Ukraine had reclaimed 54% of the territory seized by the Kremlin since the beginning of the war. This southern province still has work to do because the Russian army has only withdrawn from the areas it had occupied for months on the western bank of the Dnieper. Since then, Russia only controls the areas east of the great river that bisects the Ukrainian territory.
Located on the fertile plains that made the country one of the breadbaskets of the world, the liberation of Kherson gave back part of their land to the Ukrainians. black sea outlet and put the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, within range of his forces. Crimea will be last, some analysts predict, but if it recovers sooner it will deprive Russia of a necessary supply route. Soldiers in occupied Ukraine.