“This is the last offensive spurt of the Russians,” – the former commander of US forces in Europe

From the first day of the war Focus never stopped working. Our team considers it its duty to inform the reader about what is happening, to collect and analyze facts, to resist enemy propaganda. Focus needs your support today, to continue your mission. Thank you for being with us.

Support
–

The Russian army still has an advantage in artillery and MLRS, so the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now suffering heavy losses, but this is the last powerful offensive of the invaders. About this in an interview with the project “Chronicles of War” told former commander of US forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

“Their soldiers are exhausted, their logistics are disrupted,” Hodges said. “In my opinion, until the end of August, perhaps even earlier, the Russian Armed Forces will not be capable of anything other than artillery shelling. I also believe that already in July we will see in operation of artillery and MLRS provided by the West”.

What problems did the invaders face?

The general listed the main problems of the Russian army:

• a significant part of the equipment was destroyed;
• there was a shortage of spare parts for its repair;
• due to a lack of manpower, the Russians cannot rotate, so the soldiers have been at the front for more than 100 days.

“That’s why I think they squandered their potential,” said Ben Hodges.

What are the advantages of the Ukrainian army

At the same time, according to the general, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have several advantages:

• the Ukrainians successfully use their knowledge of the area, while the Russians hardly orientate themselves in the occupied territories;
• Ukrainian soldiers learn new weapons and technologies very quickly.

According to the general, now Ukraine is in dire need of long-range artillery and missiles, for example, HIMARS rocket systems. However, he is confident that things will change soon.

“The United States sent four such MLRS, but 40 are needed. Britain also volunteered to supply such systems. And if the United States and Great Britain set such an example, then soon we will see other countries that will begin to make such deliveries,” Hodges said.

He also said that he became one of the signatories of an appeal to the US government from 30 US ambassadors and generals. The authors of the appeal demanded that the government “be more aggressive” in the supply of long-range artillery and missiles, preferably with a maximum radius of 300 km. These deliveries must become uninterrupted.

“I don’t understand why some members of the presidential administration are dragging this out. Of course, they want the degree of conflict not to rise. But Russia cannot escalate further, they can’t do anything,” Ben Hodges emphasized.

Recall, the United States declares its readiness to send a new batch of HIMARS to Ukraine, but first officials want to make sure that Ukrainian soldiers are effectively using American MLRS. The US military has also developed accelerated training plan for a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers dealing with modern multiple launch rocket systems. In addition, Great Britain trains artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

–