– This is straight from the textbook. The Russians have always used this trick when they retreated, says military historian Niels Bo Poulsen Danish television 2.
He is not in the least surprised by the scene that has unfolded in Kherson in recent days.
Because even though this weekend’s news was full of cheering Ukrainians on the streets of Kherson, there’s still a long way to go before everything gets back to business as usual in the provincial capital.
DAMAGE: Kherson images show extensive destruction of the city. Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/NBT
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– Critic
The Russians have destroyed all the infrastructure and the inhabitants have to do without communication equipment, water supply, heating and electricity. It also creates a shortage of absolutely essential things that Ukrainians need to survive.
The mayor of the city, Roman Holovnia, defines the humanitarian situation as very serious.
– There is a severe shortage of water in the city. There is currently not enough medicine and not enough bread because it can’t be baked because there is no electricity, she says.
Ukrainians blame Russia, who they believe destroyed it on purpose. And when the military historian calls it an old trick, he thinks of what many know as the scorched earth tactic.
It’s simply a matter of systematically destroying the areas you leave after a retreat. An example from Norwegian history is the burning of Finnmark by the Germans in 1944, when Soviet forces liberated that part of the country from the Nazis.
Poulsen explains that the strategy is twofold.
It is about destroying infrastructure such as bridges, railway tracks and roads to make things more difficult for the Ukrainian military.
But it is also about making life difficult for the Ukrainian population. That the poor living conditions will exhaust the Ukrainians.
– This speaks volumes about how brutally Russia is waging this war, says Poulsen.
DON’T GIVE UP: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters/NTB.
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– Russia is far from giving up
And Tankesmia «Institute for the Study of War» (ISW) hardly believes that Russia’s brutality is over. In their daily update on the war in Ukraine, they write that they believe the Russian offensive in Donetsk will intensify in the coming weeks.
– Several mobilized officials arrive together with the forces that have been withdrawn from Kherson, writes ISW.
This means that Ukrainian forces in the area will be under pressure and Kiev will most likely have to send more troops to the area to defend against these new Russian offensives, according to the think tank.
British Foreign Secretary Ben Wallace shared similar thoughts in a statement on Sunday. He also says Ukraine has momentum in the war, but warns that the end of the war is still far away.
– It would be foolish to see this as the end of the war. Nobody underestimates Russia. Russia is far from giving up, Wallace says, according to Reuters.
