(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- 19FortyFive reports that the Russian military is currently on the defensive strategically, and it doesn’t appear that this will change soon.
The Russian high command must build up sufficient mobile reserves that are well-trained and outfitted to make a difference on the battlefield if it wants to begin regaining the initiative.
This doesn’t appear to be happening in Moscow.
Instead, wherever there is a gaping hole on the frontlines, the Russian military is sending sporadic reinforcements. However, it is not how the Kremlin wants to achieve its goals.
In the south of the Donbas, in the vicinity of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the Russian forces are the only ones to continue to exert some form of initiative.
The two cities have been under Russian soldiers’ control for the past four months. At first, conquering the two cities made tactical sense because it was a part of a more extensive, two-pronged operation to encircle and trap the Ukrainian forces in the Donbas (the other prong was coming from the north in the area of Izium and Lyman). The Russian troops could not advance in the south despite making some extremely costly advances in the north.
Additionally, the Russian forces in the north of the Donbas have been either annihilated or driven back since the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east in September, which astonished Russia and the rest of the world.
Izium, Lyman, and other crucial logistical centers were also taken by the Ukrainians, further complicating any Russian counteroffensive from the north of the Donbas.
The Russian military is nonetheless suffering significant losses in the meanwhile. The Russian forces have lost more than 500 soldiers on average over the last four days and more than 700 on certain days.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian forces have killed about 88,380 Russian soldiers as of Tuesday (and wounded approximately thrice that number).
The Russian and Ukrainian military’s ammunition supplies have run out after more than nine months of fighting. The two forces can use up to 25,000 artillery projectiles on some days. To restock their arsenals, Kyiv and Moscow are looking to non-NATO nations.
