“Firebag”
The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson direction, which was so loudly announced by the leadership of Ukraine, failed miserably – in just one short battle, the Ukrainian army lost a record number of soldiers and equipment. According to military analyst, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Oleksiy Leonkov, the Ukrainian military turned out to be good in urban battles, but they never learned offensive tactics, so they were defeated.
Photo: AP
He also told which direction the Ukrainian army will move next and why they so badly need any victory before the end of the year.
The Ukrainian “counteroffensive” on Kherson, which was so much talked about in Kyiv, ended tragically for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military decided to advance from the left bank of the Ingulets River in the territory of the Kherson region. The allied forces of the Russian army, meanwhile, took a break and waited for the Ukrainian group to stretch for several kilometers in the direction of Andreevka-Sukhoi Stavok, after which they attacked the Ukrainian army. The remnants of Ukrainian formations were eliminated in the forest belt. Thus, in the very first hours of the “counteroffensive”, Russian troops defeated the Ukrainian military, who fell into the “fire bag”.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in manpower amount to 560 people. During the fighting, 26 Ukrainian tanks, 23 infantry fighting vehicles, nine other armored fighting vehicles were also destroyed, two Su-25 attack aircraft were shot down.
According to Alexei Leonkov, the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was initially doomed – there is too much about it they said:
-Ukraine has repeatedly announced a powerful counteroffensive in the Kherson direction. At the same time, President Zelensky stated that the offensive would be unhurried, and set aside up to six weeks for it.
Six weeks have passed. Nothing happened.
It was assumed that this would be such a powerful offensive that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would even take some settlement, and possibly Kherson. Several attempts were made to break through the line of contact.
As a result, the enemy was able to concentrate a certain amount of armored vehicles, armored vehicles and organize artillery and aviation support, but the counteroffensive still failed. At the same time, the enemy suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment.
This suggests that the attack that was undertaken did not come as a surprise to our command. We were ready for it, and the attack was doomed.
In general, the battle did not last long, but Ukraine lost a battalion tactical group in just one battle. If earlier the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that 100-200 people were losing along the entire line of contact, and here in one battle – 560 … This is a lot.
According to Leonkov, the Ukrainian army did not take into account its weak side:< /p>
– The attack area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was reconnoitered – they received intelligence information promptly. But, most likely, the fact that the Ukrainian army was not prepared for counter-offensive actions affected. She was being prepared for the attack that she is now conducting – the occupation of settlements, urban battles, the use of citizens as human shields – what we are seeing along the entire line of military contact. They are good on defense, but on the offensive they turned out to be, to put it mildly, ignoramuses.
Besides, they apparently thought that if they keep saying “wolves, wolves”, we will believe them, get scared and lose. But you see, we also have intelligence that foresaw and knew all this.
The military expert does not exclude that such attacks will resume in the near future – the future of the Ukrainian army is at stake:
– The enemy, despite the defeat, still plans to make such attacks. Not necessarily in the direction of Kherson. There are also Izyumskoye and Kharkivskoe directions. Zelensky has been given the task of doing something outstanding in time for the November elections to the US Congress. The result of Zelensky's actions will affect the financing of the Ukrainian army, which is now completely dependent on American capital.
By