"Tactical retreat": Ukraine appears to be backing down in Donbass - but not for long

Created: 06/02/2022, 19:34

By: Patrick Mayer

Ukraine is apparently withdrawing its troops from the Donbass and building a new line of defense against the Russian army.

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In the war with Russia: Up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are killed every day

Munich/Kyiv/Severodonetsk - There are reports that Ukraine is withdrawing from the Donbass because of a tactical plan.

This was already reported on Wednesday evening (June 1st) by ZDF's "heute journal".

It should therefore be avoided at all costs that the units fighting there are encircled by the advancing Russian units.

Just as happened to the soldiers at the Mariupol steel mill.

In the current situation, the Ukrainian armed forces appear to be regrouping deeper in the country.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia currently controls a fifth of the country - for example the Cherson and Zaporizhia regions.

"Around 20 percent of our territory is now under the control of the occupiers," explained the 44-year-old and reported: "We are losing 60 to 100 soldiers every day."

Zelenskyi's message to Ukraine: Soldiers' lives more important than hasty offensives

He also addressed those who tried to tell the Ukrainian army “where to attack first or where to throw the enemy back,” Zelenskyy said in one of his daily video addresses: “Ukraine values ​​every opinion.

Above all, Ukraine values ​​every life.” Russia “sends people to the hell of battles only because they in Moscow want to conquer something within a few days or by a certain date,” he said.

High losses: Ukraine has to mourn many dead soldiers in the east of the country in the war against Russia.

© Emilio Morenatti/AP/dpa

A military expert sees the current retreat as a tactical maneuver by Kiev while the Ukrainian armed forces await the delivery of heavy artillery weapons such as the Bundeswehr's MARS II rocket launcher.

In the vast Donbass, Russia “mainly relies on ground-based artillery, and it can also rely on local air superiority to some extent.

Ukraine is defending itself tenaciously, but also has to use tactical retreats - for example in the city of Sievjerodonetsk," says Franz-Stefan Gady in an interview with ARD's "Tagesschau": "On the other hand, we rarely see encirclement, but rather a methodical, slow advance of the Russians associations and a tactical retreat on the Ukrainian side.”

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Ukraine 20 percent under Russia's control - New figures on daily losses

Russia-Ukraine war: Allegedly "poorly trained units" of Kiev in the Donbass

The large deficit on the Ukrainian side is the lack of heavy weapons.

“At the moment Ukraine is busy setting up reserve mechanized formations, which could then perhaps be operational by midsummer or later.

They are the key to any large-scale offensive - and must be well protected against attacks from the air," explains the policy advisor from the Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

In the Donbass, Ukraine "threw poorly trained units with too little equipment and ammunition into action early on".

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