Ukraine's impressive victory on the battlefield raises a political question for Israel

Alongside the clear interest in preserving the freedom of action in Syria, Israel needs to ask where it is in a new global order, in which Ukraine is a central country in the European Union.

In such a case, policy and strategic opportunities will open up, and as the moment of decision on the battlefield approaches, the time to deliberate is running out.

opinion

Arkady Mil-Man

11/09/2022

Sunday, September 11, 2022, 7:13 p.m. Updated: 10:12 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

On video: Ukraine regained control of territories in Kharkiv Oblast (Photo: Reuters)

Arkady Mil-Man (photo: official website, Chen Galili)

In recent days we have witnessed fascinating developments on the front in eastern and southern Ukraine.

For the first time since the start of the war on February 24 of this year, the Ukrainians took the initiative and launched a large-scale counterattack.

They carried out a brilliant deception move when, for weeks, they broadcast that they intended to launch a counter-attack towards the southern city of Kherson, causing the Russians to concentrate forces there and in practice embarked on a limited move in the Kherson area, while at the same time launching a massive counter-attack in two other directions.

They broke through the front line in the east of the country, advanced tens of kilometers and liberated over 30 settlements, including two that were very important logistically for the Russian army.

As a result of the Ukrainian attack, Russia postponed until an unknown date the referendums on joining Russia that it planned to hold in the territories it occupied.

Those who carefully followed the developments on the Russian-Ukrainian front were not surprised by the events of the last few days.

The Ukrainian commanding echelon did not hide its desire to launch a counterattack to begin liberating the territories occupied by Russia and was only waiting for the supply of Western weapons, which finally arrived.

By the way, the West is not satisfied only with arms shipments to the Ukrainians.

The Ukrainian army has developed close cooperation with Western intelligence services, especially the American military intelligence, which provide it with extensive and accurate intelligence information.

Western armies also pass on modern combat doctrine to them, and we are definitely witnessing its assimilation in the field.

Ukrainian soldiers celebrate a victory.

Yesterday (Photo: Reuters)

Compared to the Ukrainians, the Russian command shows a lack of flexibility, uses outdated fighting methods, fails to adequately learn lessons.

The Russian army, which until the start of the war in Ukraine was considered one of the strongest in the world, has so far demonstrated not very impressive operational capabilities.

At the same time, make no mistake, with all the supply of Western weapons, the significant quantitative advantage is still on the side of the Russians, and there is no guarantee that the current Ukrainian counterattack will soon end in Ukrainian victory.

On the contrary, the war will probably continue for many more months.

What's more, the Ukrainian leadership recently declared its intention to liberate all Ukrainian territory, including the territories occupied by Russia in 2014, and from a political point of view it will be very difficult for them to stop before achieving this goal.

good to know (in advance)

The rowing swimming method that will change your life (and make you fit)

Served on behalf of TI SWIM

Combat vehicles abandoned by Russian forces (Photo: Reuters)

As things are developing on the ground, and contrary to the predictions that prevailed at the beginning of the war that the Ukrainian army would be defeated within a few days, today it is certainly not possible to rule out the scenario, according to which Ukraine will have the upper hand.

If this happens, it will significantly affect the status of the two countries - Russia and Ukraine - in the global arena.

Ukraine has already begun its path to join the European Union, it will transfer its army to NATO standards and it will receive massive Western aid to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed in the war. Russia, on the other hand, will have to deal with the economic sanctions imposed on it for years to come, with the loss of Western markets for the sale of oil and gas her and with the growing isolation.

Therefore, already today, Israel needs to ask itself where it is in the emerging new global world order.

Along with Israel's clear and immediate interest in maintaining its freedom of action in Syria and taking care of the large Jewish community in Russia, other considerations must be considered.

The political consideration - if Ukraine eventually joins the European Union, it will be one of the largest and most influential countries in it.

The economic consideration - the reconstruction after the war and the transfer of the Ukrainian army to NATO standards will open many business opportunities for the Israeli companies. The strategic consideration - to stand by the Western partners led by the United States who support Ukraine unequivocally. As the time of decision on the battlefield approaches, the time Israel has is running out. The

• news

• opinions and interpretations

Tags

• Ukraine

• Russia