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| Minus the logistics. How the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing a decisive |
| 2023-08-08 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Korrespondent] The Ukrainian attacks on bridges in critical Russian directions are part of a broader Ukrainian campaign to set the stage for future counter-offensives. Ukraine is actively hitting the rear and logistics of the Russian army. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny says that the Ukrainian defenders "continue to create conditions step by step to move forward." The initiative is on the side of the Ukrainian army, and this is how it uses it. Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) are analyzing Ukrainian strikes on the Chongar and Genichesk bridges that link annexed Crimea with mainland Ukraine. Analysts say the strikes targeted two key road bridges along critical Russian land lines, forcing Russian troops to divert vehicular traffic from shorter eastern routes to longer western ones. Volodymyr Saldo, the head of the occupation administration of the Kherson region, said that Ukrainian troops fired 12 missiles at the Genichesk bridge, and Russian air defense systems allegedly intercepted nine of them. Sergey Aksyonov, appointed by Russia as the “head of Crimea,” said that Ukrainian troops fired two missiles at the Chongar bridge. Russian sources claim that Ukrainian forces used British- and French-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles in both strikes, although the ISW has not yet been able to obtain confirmation that Russian air defenses intercepted those missiles. In general, according to experts, Ukrainian attacks on bridges in critical directions for Russians are part of a broader Ukrainian campaign aimed at creating conditions for future counter-offensive operations. PROBLEMS OF THE OCCUPIERS Attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on bridges in Chonhar and Genichesk, Kherson region, led to the fact that "they are not able to help the enemy supply what he needs - reserves, resources for combat platforms," said Natalya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Defense Forces, on the air of a single telethon . “I will note that the Defense Forces are not destroying infrastructure, they are not destroying what we need again, but they are destroying the plans and strategy of the enemy. Therefore, hitting these bridges has put them in a state where they are not able to help the enemy supply what he needs - reserves, resources for combat platforms," Gumenyuk explained. She added that the Russian occupiers are now forced to bypass what they brought in from Crimea . Bypass roads pass through Armyansk, and this is critically close to the Defense Forces. "The range of the Defense Forces frightens and surprises them (the Russians) very significantly. And now they have to use the ground transport route in order to be as close as possible to the Defense Forces. This is a defeat, this is again a complication and slowdown in logistics. They are trying to interleave their military columns with civilian transport,” said a spokeswoman for the Southern Defense Forces. She also drew attention to the large movement of civilian transport from Crimea, because all the main arteries are blocked - from the Crimean bridge to the bridges of the Kherson region, which are being hit by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “The entire flow of traffic is narrowing to one artery. We feel it. Having worked hard enough at the enemy’s field ammunition points, we see that he cannot bring up resources and reduces the number of shelling,” Gumenyuk said. |
| Posted by:badanov |