Russia's deployment of tactics likened to 'a thousand cuts' has put considerable pressure on Ukrainian forces that are facing many challenges in terms of human and material resources.
Ms. Dara Massicot, senior fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (USA), commented: "What Ukrainian units are facing is significant pressure from Russian tactics."
Ms. Massicot said that the Russians were attacking in very small groups, day and night. “It was thousands of lethal cuts. This put a huge strain on understaffed units,” she said. Such tactics were reported in Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Pokrovsk, among other places in Ukraine.
Severe military shortage, Ukraine deploys air defense troops as infantry
Small-scale Russian attacks have been a problem for Ukraine throughout the nearly three-year conflict. The challenge is exacerbated by a severe manpower shortage that Kyiv faces. To address the problem, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench in the Kharkiv region on December 22, 2024.
Russia is also facing difficulties in mobilizing its manpower. In early December, conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russia’s efforts to maintain pressure across the entire battlefield in Ukraine were putting pressure on its domestic workforce. ISW said that Russia would find it difficult to continue this trend in the medium term.
Earlier in December, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russia had suffered its highest casualty toll of any month of the conflict in November, averaging more than 1,500 soldiers killed and wounded each day. Britain relied on figures from Ukrainian intelligence, but could not verify the accuracy. Russia has not commented.
"The high casualty rate may reflect a higher tempo of Russian operations and attacks," the UK Ministry of Defence said, adding that Moscow would likely continue to suffer more than 1,000 casualties a day as its forces advance along the frontline.
Ukraine fired a small multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) towards Russia on December 25, 2024
Despite the casualties, Russia is still putting enormous pressure on Ukraine's defense forces, and the attacks are having an effect, Ms. Massicot said.
Russia is now trying to attack Ukrainian defenses from different directions on the front. The latest Russian advance has been to take control of most of the town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine. One important area of focus for Moscow is the city of Pokrovsk, an important logistics and railway hub in southwestern Ukraine. Russia is also trying to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region (Russia). In addition, the Ukrainian military believes that Moscow's forces are preparing to launch another attack in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chien-thuat-nghin-vet-cat-cua-nga-gay-suc-ep-lon-cho-ukraine-185241228102144968.htm
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