WaPo Detailed The New Tactics Responsible For Russia’s Latest Successes In Donbass
Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter
To paraphrase the famous saying, “Russians saddle slow but ride fast”, so it’s possible that everything might soon accelerate as a result of Russia finally adopting these tactics.
The Washington Post (WaPo) published a piece on Wednesday about how “Ukraine’s east buckling under improved Russian tactics, superior firepower” to coincide with Russia’s capture of the strategic Ukrainian fortress town of Ugledar at the junction of the Donbass and Zaporozhye fronts. According to them, Russia is now relying on assault teams as small as four soldiers each in order to evade drone surveillance. It also has much more equipment than Ukraine and is able to better coordinate its attacks as well.
An anonymous officer from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade that fought in Ugledar “for about two years with no relief” told them that “artillery volleys in the area sometimes reach 10 shells to 1 in favor of Russia and glide bombs launched unopposed from jets can destroy whole sections of a trench line and anyone manning them.” WaPo added that Ukraine still struggles to replenish its losses and has been distracted by its invasion of Russia’s Kursk Region, the latter outcome of which was predictable.
Another interesting tidbit from their report is that “The destruction of railways and bridges (around Pokrovsk) means it is effectively lost”. Readers can learn more about how that city’s capture can be a game-changer for the Donbass front from this analysis here, but it’s also significant that Russia is finally targeting Ukraine’s military logistics. It still won’t touch bridges across the Dnieper nor any of the railways connecting Ukraine to Poland, but at least it’s finally destroying those near the front.
While none of these tactics are novel, it’s the first time that they’ve been employed by Russia, let alone altogether. Dropping “meat assaults” in favor of small assault teams was long overdue, as was bombing Ukrainian trenches and targeting its military logistics near the front line. Russia has always been far ahead in the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition”, but it’s only just now doing something other than relying on brute force by finally devising more effective ways to leverage this advantage.