The Ukrainian counteroffensive across the Donbas and southern Ukraine continues. Ignoring murmurs about its slow progress, Kyiv persists with its plan to liberate large portions of ground and bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiations table.
Ukrainian forces have been making progress along several axes of advance and have attriting the Russian military in the process.
But the Russians have been putting up a skillful defense, using new tactics to slow down the Ukrainian forces.
Moscow’s New Tactics
Admittedly, the Russian military has performed better than expected in its defense against the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Months of extensive preparations have enabled the Russian forces to stall the Ukrainian mechanized assaults and frustrate Kyiv’s dreams of big gains. The Russian military has also been using refined tactics to slow down the Ukrainian forces.
“The core of this approach has been Russia’s very heavy use of anti-tank mines. In some areas, the density of its minefields indicate that it has likely used many more mines than laid down in its military doctrine,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in a recent estimate of the war.
Once Ukrainian units have been incapacitated or pinned down by the extensive minefields, the Russian forces are then using artillery, suicide drones, and air power to destroy or force to retreat the Ukrainian forces. These tactics have been fairly effective, and the Ukrainian forces have lost several Western weapon systems in their attempt to breach the Russian fortifications and achieve an operational breakthrough.
Moscow’s new tactics might be effective for the time being, but they don’t address inherent problems in the Russian military, such as force generation, poor morale, and lack of modern weapon systems for all of its forces.
“Although Russia has achieved some success with this approach in the early stages of Ukraine’s counter-offensive, its forces continue to suffer from key weaknesses, especially overstretched units and a shortage of artillery munitions,” the British Military Intelligence added.
Russian Casualties in Ukraine
Meanwhile, on day 497 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military continues to take significant casualties on the frontlines. Since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian forces have lost more than 20,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, for a bloody average of more than 700 men lost every day.
The intense artillery duel between the two militaries continues with no respite. Over the last four days alone, the Ukrainian military claims to have destroyed 126 Russian artillery pieces and 26 multiple-launch rocket systems.
Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Wednesday, Ukrainian forces have killed and wounded approximately 231,700 Russian troops.
Destroyed equipment inclueds: 322 fighter, attack, bomber, and transport jets, 309 attack and transport helicopters, 4,062 tanks, 4,288 artillery pieces, 7,717 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 656 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 18 boats and cutters, 6,865 vehicles and fuel tanks, 395 anti-aircraft batteries, 3,614 tactical unmanned aerial systems, 598 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, and four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems, and 1,261 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses.
A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
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