Ms. Dara Massicot, senior member of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (USA), commented: “What Ukrainian units are experiencing is significant pressure from these tactics.” from the Russian side”.
Ms. Massicot said Russia organized into very small groups to attack continuously day and night. “That’s thousands of cuts causing damage. This puts a lot of stress on the undermanned units,” according to her. Such tactical deployments have been recorded in Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Pokrovsk, among other places in Ukraine.
Severely lacking troops, Ukraine sent air defense soldiers as infantry
Small-scale Russian attacks have been a problem for Ukraine throughout the nearly three-year conflict. The above challenge is even more serious when Kyiv faces a serious shortage of human resources. To solve this problem, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lowered the mobilization age from 27 to 25.
A Ukrainian soldier walks in trenches in the Kharkiv region on December 22, 2024
Not only Ukraine, Russia also faces difficulties in mobilizing human resources. In early December, conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW-USA) assessed that Russia’s efforts to maintain pressure on the entire battlefield in Ukraine are putting pressure on the labor force in Ukraine. water. ISW believes that Russia is unlikely to continue like this in the medium term.
In early December, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russia suffered its highest number of casualties in any month of the conflict in November, averaging more than 1,500 soldiers killed and wounded each day. The British side relied on data given by Ukrainian intelligence, but could not verify its accuracy. Russia also has no comment.
“The high casualty rate may reflect the higher tempo of Russian operations and attacks,” the British Ministry of Defense said, adding that Moscow would likely continue to suffer losses of more than 1,000 soldiers. soldiers every day as the country’s forces advance along the front lines.
Ukraine fired a small multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) toward Russia on December 25, 2024.
Ms. Massicot said that despite suffering casualties, Russia is still putting great pressure on Ukraine’s defense forces, and the attacks are being effective.
Currently, Russia is trying to attack Ukraine’s defensive positions in many different directions of the front. Russia’s latest step is to control most of the town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine. One important area on which Moscow focuses is the city of Pokrovsk – an important railway and logistics center in the southwestern part of Ukraine. Russia is also trying to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk province area (Russia). In addition, the Ukrainian military believes that Moscow forces are preparing to launch additional attacks in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
