US ex-officer: Ukraine’s new anti-Russia military tactics could cost it Odesa

Retired US Col Daniel Davis has said that Ukrainian troops have begun to use new tactics on the battlefield against Russia, which “could lead to Ukraine losing major cities, such as Odesa”.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have not “embraced” an attrition-based approach, they have changed tactics to leading with small groups of dismounted infantries to try and penetrate Russia’s leading trench lines out of sheer necessity. Leading with armour simply will not work, and if Ukraine had persisted in trying large armoured assaults, they would have continued dying in large numbers, Caliber.Az reports, citing Responsible Statecraft.

According to the former US officer, the problem for Kyiv is that this “approach” is virtually certain to fail. The military geography of this entire region of Ukraine is characterized by open, flat terrain, interspersed with thin forest strips.

“Because Russia owns the skies and has considerable drone capacity, any time the Ukrainian soldiers move in the open, they are immediately subjected to artillery or mortar fire. If any armoured vehicles move in the open, they are likewise quickly destroyed. The best the Ukrainian army can do is infiltrate small numbers of infantrymen into trenches where Russian forces are located.”

Davis is sure that for the Ukrainian army to succeed, it needs human resources and infrastructure, which Ukraine does not have at the moment.

“Initiating negotiations with Moscow remains the best solution for Kyiv to preserve the remaining Ukrainian territories. Otherwise, the Russian Armed Forces may launch their own offensive in the summer or autumn of this year, and then the Russian Armed Forces may establish their control in Kharkiv and Odesa,” the expert stressed.