At least two months have passed since the start of the active phase of Ukraine’s strategic counteroffensive, the situation at the front and its changes are more or less known to all interested parties, but it is still worth talking about what really prevents the Ukrainian army from striking these 70-100 km to Azov or For the Black Sea beach. It’s not just Russia’s defense, it’s Ukraine’s plan.
Western and Russian military observers mostly agree that the warring parties in Ukraine tend to be creative and flexible in their offensive operations, but defensively, the war is mostly conducted according to the Soviet Army’s field regulations, which include fairly adequate guidelines that are useful today.
Ukraine’s disarmament gave Russia time
Of course, each commander adds or removes something from the regulations, but in general, when describing the Russian defense operations in the Zaporizhzhia region, we can establish that the classic Soviet defense is being built and the classic Soviet defense tactical techniques are being used.
First of all, it cannot be overlooked that when planning the defense in the south of Ukraine, the Russian staffs took into account the nature of the terrain, which in this part of Ukraine is characterized by wide plains crossed by narrow strips of artificial greenery, but the settlements in the region are evenly distributed, dense and mostly small towns, villages and villages status. How difficult it is to carry out an attack in such an area, we could observe in the spring of 2022, when the possibility of unblocking Mariupol was considered.
On the other hand, since the terrain allows wide maneuvering of combat equipment, the lines of defensive fortifications must be long enough to prevent them from being bypassed from the flank, and at the same time well secured with anti-tank means, i.e. see mines. Taking a look at the scheme of Russian defense positions, there is no doubt that Russia was given time to build not one, but several lines of defense due to the delay in handing over armaments to Ukraine, providing also a depth of defense that meets the already mentioned parameters.
Deep fronts
Taking into account that Russia had time to organize defense, not only several defense lines were built, but also their front fields –
2023-08-12 21:02:02
#Mārtiņš #Vērdiņš #Ukrainians #breaking #Russian #frontline #strategy
