RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

West ‘perplexed’ by Ukraine’s strategy – NYT

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is struggling because some of Kiev’s best troops are “in the wrong places,” the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing senior US and UK officials speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Kiev's main objective is to reach the Sea of Azov, cutting Crimea off from the Russian mainland. Yet, Ukraine currently has more troops on the eastern front – facing Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut – than in the “far more strategically significant” south, according to the Times.

“American planners have advised Ukraine to concentrate on the front driving toward Melitopol… and on punching through Russian minefields and other defenses, even if the Ukrainians lose more soldiers and equipment in the process,” the newspaper claimed.

The Russian Defense Ministry has estimated Ukraine had lost 45,000 dead and over 5,000 vehicles in the past two months of fighting, without penetrating Russian defenses.

“Only with a change of tactics and a dramatic move can the tempo of the counteroffensive change,” a US official told the newspaper, while other sources cited in the article argued that even that may be too little, too late.

Kiev’s insistence on keeping a large force in the east is particularly “perplexing” to American and British officials, as Western doctrine calls for commitment to a clear main effort. They argue that a smaller force could serve to pin down the Russian defenders, and while Ukraine theoretically has enough troops to retake Artyomovsk, doing so would “lead to large numbers of losses for little strategic gain.”

General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, his British counterpart Admiral Tony Radakin, and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Christopher Cavoli all urged Ukraine’s top general Valery Zaluzhny to focus on the southern front in an August 10 call, the Times said. Zaluzhny supposedly agreed. 

Just five days later, however, President Vladimir Zelensky was touring the “Soledar sector” near Artyomovsk, visiting the neo-Nazi ‘Azov’ unit and speaking about the importance of the eastern front.

According to the Times, Ukraine has started to redeploy some units to the south, but “even the most experienced units have been reconstituted a number of times after taking heavy casualties.” 

Kiev is currently “tapping into its last strategic reserves,” and unnamed Western analysts worry that Ukrainian forces “may run out of steam” by mid-September, even before a change in weather turns the ground into impassable mud. 

The Times itself noted that US criticism comes from the perspective of officers “who have never experienced a war of this scale and intensity,”and that the US war doctrine “has never been tested in an environment like Ukraine’s, where Russian electronic warfare jams communications and GPS,” and there is no air superiority.

Ukraine launched its much-hyped offensive in early June, but has so far failed to gain any significant ground, losing many Western-supplied tanks and armored vehicles in the process.

** Russian president comments on Kiev’s battle tactics

Ukraine is senselessly turning its own soldiers into cannon fodder for Russian troops, President Vladimir Putin has said, while reflecting on the methods employed by Kiev during its ongoing offensive. 

“As you can see, the situation on the contact line is currently stable,” the Russian leader said, during the meeting with Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) acting head Leonid Pasechnik in the Kremlin on Wednesday.

Putin went on to comment on Kiev’s recent tactics, which have failed to yield any significant territorial gains, but cost heavy losses of Ukrainian troops and armor. 

“They are throwing [Ukrainian soldiers] on our minefields, under our artillery fire, acting as if they are not their own citizens at all. It is astonishing,” Putin said.

Despite Kiev’s public optimism regarding its offensive operations, which were launched in early June, international media has reported that Western officials were growing concerned and frustrated over the lackluster results achieved by the Ukrainian military, as well as the loss of NATO-supplied equipment, including heavy tanks. 

Ukrainian armored units have been struggling to get past dense Russian minefields and had failed to break through fortified positions. The New York Times cited unnamed US and British officials on Tuesday as saying that the planners in Kiev had made the mistake of dispersing their attacking units across the long front line rather than focusing on a concentrated strike in a single area.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US says it does not support Ukrainian strikes inside Russia

The United States does not encourage or enable attacks inside Russia, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said after Russian authorities said they downed drones that tried to attack Moscow early on Wednesday.

It is up to Ukraine to decide how it chooses to defend itself from the Russian invasion that began in February last year, the State Department spokesperson said, adding Russia could end the war any time by withdrawing from Ukraine.

Drone strikes deep inside Russia have increased since two unmanned aircraft were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Drone strikes on the Russian capital have become increasingly common in recent months.

The United States, which has supplied Ukraine with massive assistance in the form of weapons and other military equipment to combat the Russian invasion, has consistently said it does not support attacks inside Russia.

The Russian defence ministry said early on Wednesday that air defence systems downed three drones that tried to attack Moscow.

One drone hit a building under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his channel on Telegram, a messaging app.

Moscow airports suspended flights early on Wednesday, Russia's TASS news agency reported. Major airports around the Russian capital have repeatedly closed for departing and arriving flights in recent days due to Ukrainian drone activity.

Russia also shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region with no casualties and brought down a further two drones over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory but it appears to have stepped up such raids since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.

Such attacks have briefly disrupted flights and caused mostly minor damage to buildings.

** Alongside modern Western arms, Ukraine uses custom-built 'mini-Grads'

Ukraine has an arsenal of high-tech Western arms to fight Russian forces, but is also deploying custom-built mini-rocket launchers that use parts taken from a Soviet-era system.

The "mini-Grad" uses pipes from Soviet-designed BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers developed in the 1960s, and can be mounted on pickup trucks, providing additional mobility for the counteroffensive Kyiv began in early June.

"We have equipment that we call the mini-Grad. It is made of BM-21 Grad pipes placed on top of a pickup truck, which makes it easily transportable," a Ukrainian serviceman with the call-sign "Gall" told Reuters in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.

"We try to make them more precise compared to Grads. They have the same firing pattern but, thanks to extra mechanisms to take aim and the shorter distance (they are fired at), we try to make the mini-Grad more precise."

Gall, a member of Ukraine's 108th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade, said the mini-Grads were not as accurate as the advanced HIMARS rocket systems Kyiv has received from the United States but made it possible to get closer to enemy lines.

[1/3]Ukrainian servicemen of the 108th Separate Brigade of Territorial Defence fire small multiple launch rocket systems toward Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near a front line in Acquire Licensing Rights Read more

"I cannot say that we hit targets with higher precision compared to the BM-21, but we can drive closer (to the target)." he said.

A colleague with the call sign "Luka" said the mini-Grad has a timer, helping protect those operating it, and volunteer launch station constructor Yurii Osokolanskyi said there was room for three rockets - fewer than the BM-21 Grad.

"Why? Because we are sure that three rockets will land where we need them to. It is rather ineffective to fire 10, eight or two rockets at one target," he said. "We fire three rockets precisely. The soldiers then can change their position, recharge, and continue to fire at different targets."

Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko said there were three advantages in using mini-Grads -- their mobility enables them to move fast, units that have them can fire on a target without waiting to summon artillery from elsewhere, and they offer extra firepower for lightly armed infantry units.

He said the development of such weaponry was designed to "give an advantage to units which typically do not have this type of weapon."