Why Russia’s attack on Donbas is slow
“Vladimir Vladimirovich, are we waging war or are we masturbating?”
Russia’s attack on the Donbas was not a lightning-fast operation that defeated Ukraine’s forces once and for all. Why? What does this mean for the course of the war? RFE / RL correspondent Mike Ekel writes that these questions have become the subject of widespread speculation.
“It simply came to our notice then that, disappointing “ – That’s it Russia notorious army commander, former intelligence officer who played a key role when the war in the Donbas began in 2014 Igor Girkin he says.
In the best case…
“This is the best scenario,” he said that, the enemy with great losses (of course) that, for both sides) will be gradually removed from the Donbas, which can take many weeks or even months. The enemy is generally defended skillfully and decisively in the situation and controls its soldiers “, – he wrote on April 28 on the Telegram channel.
Two weeks before that Russia The well-known veteran of the special forces made a harsher assessment. O, Russia Presidents Vladimir Putindirectly to video he said in his appeal: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, are we waging war or are we masturbating?”
Russia, which began its aggression against Ukraine on February 24, is located in the north of the country Kyiv, Chernigov could not capture the provinces. After that, the forces east and announced that it is directed to the southern parts.
Donetsk in the Donbas and Parts of the Luhansk region have been under Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Putin declared its independence before the occupation.
Ukraine’s concern
However, in the language of Russian officials, these two regions are “complete free How is it going?
“It is not clear whether the operation stumbled or did not work.” – Director of Rochan Consulting, based in Poland and defense analyst Conrad Music he said.
“My sources in Ukraine are very concerned about Russia’s activities around Izyim,” he said. Muzika stressed that it was “too early” to say that the Donbas operation was not carried out for this reason.
Izyum is a strategically located city in eastern Ukraine.
In general, the failures of the Russian army surprised many experts. They are bigger, better armed, Kyiv and Armed forces were waiting to quickly capture large targets such as Mariupol.
Evaluation of the West
Instead, the Ukrainian defenders inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army, and the technical damage was great. The main reason for this is the weapons sent by the West to Ukraine.
Americans and The British say the attack has been slow.
“Russian forces are making slow, uneven, step-by-step progress in the Donbas,” he said. – The US defense official said on April 29.
Another leading US defense official described the Donbas attack as “anemic”.
Western officials are in a mood to weaken the Russian army and explained with disciplinary problems. Unusually much to the front line generalThis explains why they were attacked by Ukraine.