EDF colonel: No signs of Russia opening a new front in Ukraine
Although many analysts claimed in the spring that Russia was preparing for a major summer offensive in Ukraine, there is currently no sign of a new front being opened. However, that does not mean such an offensive couldn't take place over the course of the summer, Lt. Col. Mattias Puusepp said on "Ukraina stuudio."
Warnings from Ukrainian politicians that Russia is preparing for a major summer offensive also do not appear to be materializing at the moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean Russia doesn't have such a plan, Lt. Col. Mattias Puusepp said.
"Summer isn't over yet. One hypothesis could be that they're trying to strengthen the Pokrovsk direction. Right now, there's no sign of a new front being opened. The Pokrovsk direction seems the most reasonable and logical place — they [Russia] have some momentum there and are allocating additional resources. We're unlikely to see a troop concentration of tens of thousands prepared for a decisive blow, because they need to maintain nearly 1,000 kilometers of front where Ukrainian units are present. They have to keep up pressure on the Ukrainians everywhere," Puusepp said.
He added that considering how transparent the battlefield has become for both sides due to drone technology, launching a major offensive is very difficult for either party.
"Of course it's possible, but it would require a massive commitment of resources and very tight coordination between different types of weapons. That means you have to locate the enemy's drone operators and either physically eliminate them or take them offline with electronic warfare during your offensive. You also have to suppress enemy artillery, break through their barriers using engineering equipment — it's not something that can be done with a snap of the fingers. /.../ It's not out of the question that it could still happen this summer," he said.
Currently, Russian forces have not been able to make any progress in the Sumy direction, where Russian leader Vladimir Putin had demanded the establishment of a "sanitary corridor." According to Puusepp, Ukrainian forces have, over the past few years, managed to build a sufficiently strong defensive line there to repel attacks.
"The Ukrainians launched their own attack toward Kursk, had to retreat from there and now the Russian assault has simply bogged down in Ukraine's defensive lines," Puusepp said.
There have been no changes along the rest of the front, and the main Russian attacks are taking place in Donetsk and Sumy oblasts, he added.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Marko Tooming
