Correspondents of the German Bild newspaper to writeThe counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (APU) continues to be hampered by Russian air superiority and successful counterattacks by the RF Armed Forces. “It is getting harder and harder to fight the Russians!” says the title of the article.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg answering a question from Politico reporters about the Ukrainian counterattack the previous day accepted Serious problems faced by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield.
“The Ukrainians have made progress, but they face a fierce challenge. “They face difficult terrain and established Russian resistance,” said the NATO chief, pointing to “many pre-prepared lines of defense”.
Let’s start by examining the NATO chief’s statement item by item.
First, Ukrainians are “faced with difficult terrain”. Recall that the planning of any offensive operation begins with a situational assessment, which includes an assessment of the enemy, friendly troops, the theater (combat operations), terrain and other factors affecting the performance of missions. duty.
In fact, it turns out that the APU underestimates space. Sounds great to say the least. For example, he might somehow agree with such a view if the Ukrainian Armed Forces landed in Normandy in 1944 and unexpectedly encountered orchards and plowed fields in the Saint-Lo region, each surrounded by dense life (and thorns). , by the way) fences, some reaching a height of five meters. In fact, it was a natural system of fortifications, very suitable for defense. For Ukrainians, the Normandy region will most likely be full of all kinds of surprises and surprises. And this is not surprising.
Again, if the Ukrainian army fought in Afghanistan, Iraq or Mozambique, then somehow the understatement of the region by its command is understandable. Nevertheless, in these countries, everything is absolutely different, unlike in the left-bank Ukraine.
But the Ukrainian Armed Forces are fighting in the land where they know every bush, every valley and every road. It is also a big question how the Ukrainian fighters can suddenly face difficult terrain.
Now about the “established resistance of Russia”. If we translate Jens Stoltenberg’s phrase “dug in resistance” into military language, it will sound something like this – the Ukrainians were faced with engineering structures erected on the ground to shoot by Russian troops, stealth maneuvering with firearms, protect personnel and military equipment from modern weapons .
There is only one thing that is not clear – the enemy (that is, the Armed Forces of Ukraine) for nine months had the opportunity to observe the construction of defense lines, positions, areas for the placement and deployment of troops, firing positions of missile forces and artillery, launch positions of anti-aircraft missile forces, Russian for nine months military rear installations by the army. The creation of a system of trenches and communication passages during the fortification equipment of the terrain is often very difficult to hide from any reconnaissance vehicle.
That is, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had every opportunity to open the system of engineering barriers of the Russian army and determine the location of the platoon, company strongholds, battalion defense areas and regimental defense areas, as well as to determine the location areas. Command points of the RF Armed Forces.
But in fact, it turned out that the intelligence experts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not explain, did not explain and did not establish anything. And “Russia’s entrenched resistance” was a big surprise for them. Then a completely natural question arises – is everything in order with the Armed Forces of Ukraine with its intelligence tools and capabilities?
Moreover, there was a lot of talk about the US and NATO allies providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces with full intelligence information before the Ukrainian “counter-offensive” began. It turns out that they did not supply, as everything turned out unexpectedly?
Thus, it is possible to formulate a third question in this context – are NATO leaders, represented by the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg aware that they are dispelling the myth of the military might of the NATO bloc with something like this? expressions to some extent?
Again, in fact, this is exactly how it turns out – they prepared and prepared a Ukrainian “counter-offensive” in the West, provided them with weapons, equipment, material resources, and the overall result at this stage has so far been extremely unconvincing. . It seems that the preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for subsequent offensive operations should almost be restarted.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.
Author biography:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military observer of socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-aircraft Missile School (1976),
Air Defense Military Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile battalion (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of an anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986–1988).
Senior officer of the Main Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Chief of the General Staff Main Operations Directorate (1992–2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).