Navy leaders within the U.S. and NATO proceed to insist that the Russians are making little progress in Bakhmut. Listed below are a few examples of this so-called “considering”:
Russia is making small advances close to the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut however this was coming at an amazing value, the highest U.S. basic stated on Wednesday.
Reuters quotes totally fashionable Milley:
“The Russians are making small, tactical advances (however) at nice value,” Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Employees Common Mark Milley advised reporters.
Russia has reported painstaking positive aspects round Bakhmut in latest weeks, making progress on encircling town, nevertheless it has not made vital territorial positive aspects in months.
No vital positive aspects? I’m publishing this animated map as a public service.
If you happen to look fastidiously on the final three seconds of the video gif you will notice that there are not less than 9 Ukrainian brigades that are actually surrounded and trapped. The Russians have hearth management over the one route of retreat for these Ukrainian items. The time-lapse video reveals vital progress over the course of the final thirty days. And I’m not simply speaking concerning the seize of territory. The losses the Ukrainians are struggling are monumental when it comes to males and tools.
The following time-lapse video reveals the outcomes of capturing Soledar aka Соледар. Controlling this metropolis gives Russia with a safe rail line that’s getting used to offer provides of meals and ammunition to the Wagner Group and different Russian forces on the entrance traces. It additionally gives the logistics infrastructure for transferring wounded troopers to safer medical care. Ukraine doesn’t have a comparable logistics system in place to offer the identical degree of help.
I need to remind you that that is solely a snapshot of a small sector of the the 1000 mile lengthy line of fight. Whereas Western officers proceed to cling to the delusional perception that Russia is making small progress, we now have but to see a single occasion within the final six months of Ukraine pushing the Russians again on these factors of assault. The reason being easy — Ukraine lacks the manpower, the ammunition provides and the logistics to hold out such an operation.
As you possibly can see within the following map, Russia is sustaining strain, with a excessive fee of fireplace, all alongside the entrance.
Officers within the West and in Ukraine proceed to insist {that a} counter-attack is coming. I’ve to imagine this can be a determined psychological operation. I discover it troublesome to imagine that accountable navy leaders and planners can be publicly tipping their hand about what they intend to do and the place they intend to strike. Common Eisenhower and Common Montgomery didn’t blather on within the press about their upcoming invasion in Normandy. They obfuscated their strikes and made masterful use of deception. Ditto for Marshal Zhukov and Common Konstantin Rokossovsky of their planning and execution of Operation Bagration.
I feel the USA and its NATO companions are making a lethal mistake in underestimating Russian intelligence concerning the disposition and readiness of Ukrainian forces. What is evident is that the Russians aren’t saying something about their plans for destroying the Ukrainian Military. However I’m sure that such plans exist and are being executed in keeping with a schedule dictated by Russia.
