Marcel Gascon |
Kiev (EFE).- Ukraine achieves with small and well-equipped mobile assault units the first results of a counteroffensive that, according to experts explained to EFE, is still in an initial phase of reconnaissance to outline future massive attacks with more firepower and troops.
“This phase is called combat reconnaissance, operational reconnaissance or deep reconnaissance,” Ukrainian military analyst Alexander Kovalenko told EFE.
Despite the fact that the main objective of these operations is to “test the enemy’s defenses” with “small mobile groups”, Ukraine has managed to liberate at least seven towns in the provinces of Donetsk (east) and Zaporizhia (southeast) in the first week of counteroffensive, the Kiev Defense Ministry reported on Monday.
The Ukrainian government has also announced other advances in the three front areas in which it has confirmed that it is carrying out offensive actions.
“This allows us to conclude that the reconnaissance objectives that we are seeing are not only being met, but exceeded,” Kovalenko explained.
Attacks on the entire front
Ukrainian reserve colonel Serhiy Grabskyi agrees that Ukrainian offensive operations seek, for the moment, to identify vulnerabilities in Russian defensive lines, and he predicts that Ukrainian attacks will continue to take place simultaneously at various points on the front.
“We won’t see a big event in one place; the operations will be deployed along the front and will consist of attacks at various points,” the retired military man explained to EFE.
Once Russian weaknesses have been identified, Grabskyi continues, the Ukrainian army will accumulate enough troops and weapons to strike where it is most advantageous.
According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, Ukrainian troops are superior to Russian troops in mobility and autonomy of their commanders when it comes to making tactical decisions, two advantages that could be key to the success of the type of counteroffensive that Kiev is proposing. .
Break the strip of support
Ukrainian troops are currently operating in the Russian first line of defense, also known as the security zone, explains Alexander Kovalenko.
In order to deploy its main forces, the Ukrainian army must first break through the so-called support strip, the one most protected by minefields, ground explosive devices and anti-tank missile systems. “The support band is created to slow down as much as possible and even stop the advance of the enemy,” says the expert.
“To operate in this area,” he adds, “mobile and well-armored vehicles are needed to save the greatest number of crew and troop lives.”
Only when the band of support has been broken, Kovalenko stresses, can the main forces be deployed.
Mobility and night vision
Ukraine has received hundreds of Western-made tanks and lighter armored vehicles in recent months that will be key to the success of its counteroffensive.
Kovalenko points out that armored infantry vehicles such as the M2A2 Bradleys sent by the United States offer far superior protection to their Soviet-made counterparts that Ukraine relied on until recently.
In addition, the expert says, the Bradleys and similar Western-made vehicles received by Ukraine have better night vision than equipment made in the former Soviet bloc.
According to some military sources, Ukraine has lost up to 16 Bradleys in the first days of the counteroffensive.
Aware of its importance, the US authorities have included an unknown number of armored vehicles to Ukraine in their latest military aid package to reinforce their capabilities during the counteroffensive.