and the rare Russian confession made by a Kremlin spokesman. Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday, said that the battle “is very difficult, but it will continue, although it has achieved certain goals within a year.”
Military experts who spoke to “Sky News Arabia” attributed the Russian talk and the difficulty of the battles to the continuous Western supplies, which strengthened the strength and progress of the Ukrainian forces, the tension and conflict that erupted between the “Wagner” forces and the Russian army, especially in the Battle of Bakhmut, as well as the “trench war” that characterized the battles. Until now.
4 reasons behind the Russian recognition
Regarding the Russian recognition of the difficulty of the battle, Russian military expert Sergei Leonkov says that it is limited to 4 reasons, namely:
Military aid:
– Where Ukraine received a lot of “heavy weapons” from NATO, such as dozens of modern tanks and armored personnel carriers of German and British production, American Patriot air defense missile systems, and Soviet combat aircraft.
– Britain announced the dispatch of “Storm Shadow” missiles, which will allow the Ukrainian forces to strike the Russian forces and supply depots in the depth behind the battle front.
Thanks to that aid, the Ukrainian Army and National Guard created at least 16 new brigades with about 50,000 fighters.
– The last of these aids was the recent announcement by the Pentagon of allocating $1.2 billion in long-term military aid to Ukraine.
Western exercises for Ukrainian forces:
According to the Russian military expert, these exercises consisted of:
– Washington launches training programs for the Ukrainian army on its modern weapons.
– The Pentagon announced the continuation of the exercises for as long as possible.
Washington trained the Ukrainians on Abrams tanks.
– Approximately 8,800 Ukrainian servicemen have completed joint arms training in Germany, and approximately 2,250 others are currently conducting training exercises in Berlin.
Germany, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement to establish a Leopard tank repair and operation center in Poland at the end of May.
The European Union intends to train about 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, Germany and other European countries.
– The exercises put the Ukrainians in a better fighting position, and they achieved great steadfastness against the Russian army, and even succeeded in carrying out many counterattacks.
Ukraine’s trench warfare
-According to Sergey Leonkov, press reports and satellite images revealed that:
– The atmosphere of the front lines between the Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region turned into a “trench war”, which caused heavy losses on both sides.
– The trenches, although they are an old military tactic and despite modern technology and military development, were restored in the Ukraine war as a means of fighting.
– It contributed to achieving some victories for Ukraine and protected its forces from direct fire, missile and artillery strikes.
The tension between Wagner and the Russian army
Battles of words broke out between the commander of the “Wagner” forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, which is described as the private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the one hand, and the Russian Ministry of Defense on the other side, due to a lack of supply of the necessary ammunition.
The expert, Sergei Leonkov, presents a chronology of those disputes that revealed the extent of internal tensions on the Russian side, especially in the Battle of Bakhmut:
– The Russian differences between the “Wagner” group and the Russian Ministry of Defense appeared to the public with the beginning of the Battle of Bakhmut.
– Relations between them have deteriorated to the greatest extent, as the leader of “Wagner” complains about a lack of ammunition and directs personal attacks on Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
– Commander Wagner threatened the Russian forces early this month to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, revealing that they are at risk of being besieged.
He revealed that his forces only got 10 percent of the required ammunition.
– Prigozhin’s repeated mockery of the Russian Defense Minister complicated relations between the two parties.
Cut off supplies.. the most prominent difficulties
- For his part, the American military analyst Michael Alex said that although Russia has the second most powerful army in the world, the Russian force does not appear to be sufficient to resolve the Ukraine war without effective logistical planning.
- He added, “Russia is facing difficulties in supplying its forces, thanks to Western military aid and the Ukrainian air defenses, whose performance was better than expected, and this was reflected in Moscow’s human and material losses.”
- “The Ukrainian army has been very effective in targeting supply lines, which has damaged the Russians’ ability to meet logistical requirements,” he added.
Russia’s priorities
As for Thomas Minnie, the German researcher, he attributed the Russian talk about the difficulties of the battles to the following:
– The Kremlin has already realized the difficulty of achieving the goals it set at the beginning when it launched military operations to change the political system in Ukraine.
At the present time, Moscow is primarily keen to maintain its positions in Donetsk and Luhansk, while ensuring a bridge extending towards the Crimea.
