Kiev’s counteroffensive has yet to yield any significant strategic improvements, two German experts admitted in an interview with public TV channel ZDF, broadcast on Thursday. The pair also detailed the main challenges Russia’s military has posed to the Ukrainian forces.
According to Christian Molling, research director at the German Society for Foreign Policy, and Andras Ratz, an expert on security and defense at the same organization, the settlements that Ukrainian forces have so far been able to occupy through their counteroffensive operation are not particularly significant. However, in taking control of them, Kiev has suffered heavy losses, they noted.
“Russia has prepared three unpleasant surprises for the Ukrainian counteroffensive,” the experts outlined.
The first, claim Molling and Ratz, is a formerly seldom used weapon: a remote-controlled mine system called Zemledelie (Agriculture) that is capable of laying minefields at a distance of 5-15km. The German experts point out that this presents the biggest challenge to Kiev’s troops, as the extremely large and deep minefields, which are also covered by a dense network of field fortifications, have prevented Ukrainian forces from advancing.
“If Ukraine were able to suppress the Russian artillery and infantry covering these minefields and take out the fortifications, clearing the mines wouldn’t be a big problem, but Ukraine is unable to do that, mainly due to the lack of air forces,” they said, noting that even though Ukraine possesses short-range air-defense systems, Russian warplanes are nevertheless capable of attacking Ukrainian positions from long range using glide bombs.
The second “surprise” for Kiev’s counteroffensive is Russia’s “extremely intense electronic warfare,” which the experts say is capable of shutting down or jamming Ukrainian communications, including those from drones.
The third challenge is the fact that after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, Russia has been able to transfer all of its forces defending the left bank of the Dnieper River to the Zaporozhye front.
Nevertheless, the experts believe that Ukraine has yet to fully launch its counteroffensive and has only sent in a fraction of the forces it has prepared for the operation.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday that Kiev is experiencing a shortage of manpower after suffering significant losses in recent weeks. He noted that while Western military hardware can be delivered to Ukraine’s army indefinitely, its mobilization reserves were not unlimited.