When Zelensky announced on July 3 that the Ukraine was withdrawing from Lisichansk, he promised that his troops would return to recapture it.
The conquest of that city was a milestone in the war for Russia and the pro-Russian forces, since with it they took full control of Lugansk, one of the two provinces that make up Donbas, the region in which the separatists began a conflict armed with the backing of Putin in 2014. Three months later, Russia has made no further progress in Donetsk, where it has also just lost Liman, and has even been expelled from Bilohorivka, a town in Lugansk, by Ukrainian forces.
All this, after the success of the Kharkov counteroffensive.
But is Ukraine in a position to finally recover the lost territory in Donbas,
that Russia has just annexed through illegal referendums?
Three specialists try to answer this question in the video that accompanies this news.
They are Francisco José Gan Pampols, lieutenant general of the Army in the reserve;
Octavio Aláez, retired Navy colonel, and Guillermo Pulido, defense analyst for the magazine
Ejércitos
.
“There are eight years of war in Donbas.
In addition to the rugged, complex, marshy in some cases, is that the level of fortification that the land has is very high”, explains Gan Pampols about the situation in the region.
"Different lines of defense have been organized in depth with trenches, minefields, anti-tank camps, etc., which make the advance extremely costly in lives and means."
“This is like World War II trench warfare.
In no case was it going to be a military walk.
The best units were there, the best fortifications," adds Aláez in the video.
However, "the area of Izium and Kupiansk guaranteed the Russian Federation that was fighting in Donetsk the flank protection of any action by Ukraine," says the lieutenant general.
“When they have lost it, it is Russia now that has its western flank unprotected, exposed.”
The loss of Liman is one of the first consequences.
"Ukraine, if given a certain type of help, can win militarily and relatively quickly," Pulido considers.
“Deep shortcomings in the Russian Army have been revealed, which will increase over the months, as Ukraine receives even more aid and continues to form more units.
And that is why they are so scared and they are calling for a massive mobilization and radical measures.”
That explains three of the most recent measures taken by Putin:
