Expert: Russia keeping up costly armored assaults in eastern Ukraine despite failures
Russia is not abandoning its current tactics despite two recent major armored assaults in eastern Ukraine both ending in catastrophe, reserve officer and independent MP Alar Laneman said.
The Pokrovsk area remains the focal point of fighting, and intense local-level battles have been going on there, Laneman noted. Russia's forces have tried to deploy more heavy equipment, tanks, and armored vehicles, in an effort to gain the upper hand from several directions.
"The battles are intense, but there have been periods like that before, yet Ukraine has come through them," he said, speaking to "Ukraina stuudio."
According to Laneman, Russian forces had previously carried out two massive armored assaults, and on both occasions they ended in catastrophe for them.
"Sometimes people say, 'not very smart, but persistent.' That's what we are seeing there too — a Russian command culture that doesn't care much about its subordinates and is willing to carry out actions which lead to heavy losses," he went on.
Laneman noted that in the case of large-scale assaults like these and the use of major formations, it is crucial to have complete control of the air — both against air strikes and aerial reconnaissance.
"[The Russian side] don't have that. Plus all the concentrated units are also very good targets for indirect fire. But since they have no problem incurring heavy losses, they will continue doing it in the future, and this step-by-step advance /.../ I think they will try to keep going in the same way," he added.
An interactive map updated in real time and which shows the situation on the Ukraine fronts is here.
--
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Marko Tooming
Source: "Ukraina stuudio", interviewer Epp Ehand
