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Ukraine minister announces new strategy: "Answer to meat grinder tactics"

2022-08-18T09:48:52.286Z


Ukraine minister announces new strategy: "Answer to meat grinder tactics" Created: 08/18/2022 11:39 am By: Felix Durach The Ukrainian armed forces seem to be changing their strategy in the war against Russia. The explosions on the Crimean peninsula could have been the first harbingers. Kyiv – The Ukraine war may have entered a new phase once again. Barely six months after the start of the Russ


Ukraine minister announces new strategy: "Answer to meat grinder tactics"

Created: 08/18/2022 11:39 am

By: Felix Durach

The Ukrainian armed forces seem to be changing their strategy in the war against Russia.

The explosions on the Crimean peninsula could have been the first harbingers.

Kyiv – The Ukraine war may have entered a new phase once again.

Barely six months after the start of the Russian invasion, Russian forces are barely moving on the front lines.

The Russian military had to expend a great deal of resources to conquer the Luhansk region.

Especially in the battles for the cities of Lyssychansk and Sjewerodonetsk, the Russian troops encountered fierce resistance and had to accept heavy losses.

The US Department of Defense estimates the number of Russian casualties since the beginning of the war at up to 80,000.

The situation of the Russian armed forces at the front is also made more difficult by the ongoing deliveries of western weapon systems.

It is precisely with the supplied Himars multiple rocket launchers that the Ukrainian armed forces are now able to target Russian targets far behind the front line.

Now is apparently the right time for Kyiv to adjust its strategy.

The Ukrainian military has apparently changed tactics in the war against Russia.

(Iconic image) © Evgeniy Maloletka/dpa

War in Ukraine: Defense Minister Reznikov explains new strategy – answer to “meat grinder tactics”

In an interview with the

Washington Post

, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stated that the Ukrainian armed forces currently lack the weapons and ammunition to launch a large-scale counteroffensive.

Therefore, Kyiv must now use other tactics: targeted attacks that are to be carried out far behind the front lines.

"We use a strategy to ruin their stocks, ruin their depots, ruin their headquarters and command bases," Reznikov explained.

"This is our answer to their meat grinder tactics."

Moscow may already have had a first taste of this new tactic.

Last week Russia was surprised by a heavy explosion on the annexed peninsula of Crimea.

The detonation at an airfield destroyed several planes belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and was also clearly visible to Russian tourists on a nearby beach.

Until then, Crimea had been considered largely safe.

At the beginning of this week, several explosions were again reported from the Black Sea Peninsula.

The targets this time: ammunition depot, power lines and rails.

Smoke billows from an explosion on Saky Beach.

Ammunition exploded at a Russian airbase on Russia's annexed Crimea peninsula in the Black Sea.

© Uncredited/dpa

Explosions in Crimea part of Ukrainian tactics?

Secretary of Defense is cryptic

In view of the incidents, the Kremlin speaks of an act of sabotage and terrorism.

The aim is to avoid giving the impression that the explosions were coordinated actions by the Ukrainian military.

Resnikov would

neither confirm nor deny Ukraine's responsibility for the blasts to the

Washington Post .

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According to the defense minister, however, Crimea is a declared target of the strategy.

“They have their full stockpiles of ammunition in Crimea and deliver them to southern Ukraine, to the mainland.

So we have to destroy them, like we did in the Kiev campaign, to cut off their supply lines,” explains Reznikov.

Using similar tactics, the Ukrainian military forced Russian troops to withdraw from the capital, Kyiv.

Zelenskyi Advisor: Ukraine Wants to Cause "Chaos Among Russian Armed Forces"

The aim of the Ukrainian military is to cause "chaos among the Russian armed forces," Mykhailo Podolyak also confirmed in an interview with the

Guardian

.

The 50-year-old is considered a close confidant and advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Podolyak said there could be more attacks similar to what happened in Crimea within the "next two to three months."

Already after the explosions on Tuesday, Podolyak wrote on Twitter about an "increased risk of death for invaders and thieves" on the peninsula.

The presidential adviser also points out that the Ukrainian tactic would represent a counter-proposal to Russia's offensive.

"Russia has taught everyone that a counter-offensive requires huge numbers of forces, like a giant fist, and goes in only one direction," he said, but "a Ukrainian counter-offensive looks very different.

We don't use the tactics of the '60s and '70s of the last century."

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

New strategy in the war against Russia: Ukraine plans further attacks behind the front line

On the one hand, Kiev's goal is to interrupt the Russian supply routes and thus prevent supplies to the front.

At the same time, the Russian armed forces are supposed to be occupied by the attacks behind the front line, so that they can no longer fully focus on the fighting at the front.

Kyiv hopes that this combination will give them the opportunity to advance into the territories conquered by Russia.

The recapture of the strategically important city of Cherson is a declared interim goal.

For Podolyak, it is an unrealistic scenario that the Ukraine war could be ended at the negotiating table in the current phase.

Constructive negotiations with Moscow would first have to be preceded by military defeats for the Russian troops.

"Russian ears only perk up when a giant military bat hits the Russians on the head," the presidential aide said.

(fd)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-18

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