The Ukrainian defense chief, Valery Zaluzny, has earned great respect during the war in Ukraine and is cited as one of the many reasons why Ukraine resisted Russia’s invasion attempt in 2022.
Zaluzhny is by no means as vocal in the public discourse as other Ukrainian leaders, such as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.
On Tuesday, 616 days since the war started, Zaluznyj has published a longer chronicle in The Economist where he describes Ukraine’s difficulties on the battlefield and wishes for the future.
– Basic weapons, such as missiles and grenades, remain essential. But Ukraine’s armed forces need important military capabilities and technologies to break out of this type of warfare. The most important of these is air power, writes the defense chief, who says that Ukraine has lost a third of the planes it started the war with.
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– Insufficient
According to Zaluznyj, the war has moved into a phase where the war is deadlocked and technological development, as well as resources, will be decisive for who wins. An area he admits the Russians are stronger in.
He also highlights electronic warfare and says an intense war is taking place in the clouds, among drones and anti-drone weapons. He writes that the impact of the less advanced Western weapons Ukraine has received has fallen dramatically.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive perhaps had too high expectations attached to it. One of the reasons why it has gone slower than many in the West hope for is the extensive defense system of Russia. Zaluznyj writes that they encounter minefields upon minefields, which are reinforced by the Russians as they are cleared.
– We had limited and outdated equipment for demining at the start of the war. But even Western supplies, such as Norwegian demining armored vehicles and rocket-propelled demining units, have proved insufficient considering the extent of Russian demining fields, which stretch back 20 kilometers in some places, he writes.
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– Russia must not be underestimated
Russia has an enormous number of more citizens to remove, and Zaluznyj repeats what many Norwegian experts have said about Putin trying to avoid a major new mobilization, because it could create unrest within Russia. At the same time, he says that he is taking action so that more Ukrainians will enlist.
– Russia must not be underestimated. A deadlocked war is a long one. It entails enormous risk for Ukraine’s military and for the state, he concludes.
Palle Ydstebø, lieutenant colonel and head teacher at the section for land power at the Norwegian Military Academy, comments on Zaluznyj’s chronicle on X.
– A very good analysis of the actual conditions. The use of small letters should not be commented on, but provided that “NM189 Ingeniorpanservogn” is mentioned.
Ydstebø points out that the Ukrainian defense chief consistently uses a lowercase initial when he refers to Russia.
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2023-11-01 21:41:58
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