Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzhny: the military conflict has reached an impasse, there will be no breakthrough
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has reached an impasse similar to that in which the participants of the First World War found themselves, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview with The Economist . "There will be no deep and beautiful breakthrough," the general believes. In his opinion, technologically advanced types of weapons and the combination of their capabilities could lead the Ukrainian army to success. But now the Western allies are one step behind providing for the needs of the front.
The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, told The Economist that the current events on the Russian-Ukrainian fronts remind him of the First World War.
In his thoughts, Zaluzhny was confirmed when, after the next failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he reread the book by Major General Pavel Smirnov "Breakthrough of the fortified strip", published back in 1941. The publication contains an analysis of the battles of the First World War.
"Before I had read half of it, I realized that it was there (in a dead end) we are here because, as then, the level of our technological development today has stupefied both us and our enemies," said Zaluzhny.
According to Zaluzhny, modern combat is designed so that the military quickly fixes the concentration of forces and destroys them with precision weapons.
Zaluzhny outlined his vision of what kind of military means will help Ukraine achieve superiority over Russia in an article published by The Economist a day earlier. Nevertheless, in his opinion, the decisive factor will not be a new invention, not one "new gunpowder", but the unification of all technical solutions that already exist: unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare, counter-battery warfare and mine clearance equipment.
"We need to use the power inherent in new technologies," says the general.
The change of commanders did not help
According to Zaluzhny, the army of the level of Ukraine is able to move at a speed of 30 km per day when breaking through defensive lines. With such an indicator, the commander-in-chief believes, four months was enough to retake the Crimea.
Instead, Zaluzhny watched as troops and equipment in the east of the country got stuck in minefields on the approaches to Bakhmut, and Western equipment was shelled by Russian artillery and drone strikes. The same story happened in the south (the direction is called the main one in the material), where the newly formed brigades, "despite being equipped with modern Western equipment, immediately ran into trouble."
"At first I thought there was something wrong with our commanders, so I replaced some of them. Then I thought that maybe our soldiers are not suitable for this purpose, so I transferred some to other brigades," says General Zaluzhny.
But these innovations have not changed anything either.
The West is one step behind the needs of the front
According to Zaluzhny, the Western allies showed excessive caution in supplying Ukraine with weapons, they were one step behind the needs that were at the front. For example, by restraining the supply of long-range missile systems and tanks, the West allowed Russia to regroup and strengthen its defenses in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions at the end of 2022.
"These systems were the most relevant for us last year, but they appeared only this year," Zaluzhny complained.
The same story with the F-16 fighters. They are expected at the front next year, but already now they will be less useful, Zaluzhny suggests, because Russia uses the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, which can hit the city of Dnipro.
Zaluzhny believes that Vladimir Putin is counting on a drop in the morale of Ukrainians and the cessation of Western support. According to the general, the prolongation of the conflict plays into the hands of Russia.
"We need to look for this solution, we need to find this gunpowder, quickly master it and use it for a speedy victory. Because sooner or later we will discover that we simply don't have enough people to fight."
Alexey Permyakov