Experts are currently seeing the beginning of the third phase of the war in Ukraine. Kyiv is now once again determining how and where fighting takes place. In the Donbass – in the second phase – Russia dictated the progress and place of the battle. The first phase was mainly marked by the struggle for Kyiv.
Former US General Mark Hertling has now described what will be militarily important in this third phase in a post on Twitter that is well worth reading.
Four points are central:
1. Kyiv must integrate the volunteer and partisan organizations – many tens of thousands of men and women – into the professional army. For complex military operations such as an offensive, a high level of education and training of the units is required. 2. Kyiv must use combined arms combat for the offensive; means allowing infantry, tanks, artillery, the air force and much more to advance in close coordination. Something that has not been used in this war before. 3. Kyiv must step up more partisan activities in the occupied territories. 4. Kyiv needs to shift its logistics from defense to offense.
Can Ukraine implement all this? It won’t be easy, writes Hertling. But he thinks it’s possible, if not immediately. Given this assessment, it is perhaps not surprising that Ukraine has still not launched its offensive.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF THE DAY AT A GLANCE
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya anticipates strong opposition to her country’s possible full participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. “Our partisan movement will sabotage that. Orders will be disobeyed. Or the Belarusian soldiers will surrender there immediately,” said the politician of the German Press Agency.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
1. Interview with Zelenskyy’s adviser: “Of course we also want to recapture Crimea”
2. A city of contrasts: Kyiv tries to forget the war this summer
3. Women in the Ukrainian army: “There is no changing table in the veterans’ club”
4. Head of the Tenants’ Association on the energy crisis: Housing allowances for households with less than 5000 euros net demanded
5. Chicken feed instead of bread for the world: The journey of the first grain freighter from Ukraine turns into a debacle
