Lessons of Soledar

Judging by the aerial reconnaissance video released the day before yesterday, Ukrainian troops are fighting in an industrial area on the outskirts of Soledar, near mine number 7. This is a group of industrial buildings, which is included in the administrative boundaries of the city, but is located at a distance from residential areas and is the western outskirts of Soledar. There, near the western outskirts, there is now a frontline.

Fighting in the Soledar area continues, but for the first time since July, the Russian troops managed to capture almost the entire Ukrainian city.

This must be honestly recognized and honest conclusions drawn at all levels.

“The President's Office is afraid to report the loss of Soledar because Bankova wants to report only good news and does not want to take responsibility for defeats. But war is not a place to gain ratings, in case of defeat you need to quickly draw conclusions and make changes.”

The President's Office is afraid to report the loss of Soledar because Bankova wants to report only good news and does not want to take responsibility for defeats. But war is not a place to gain ratings, in case of defeat you need to quickly draw conclusions and make changes.

Yes, we must tell the truth - Soledar is a defeat. And it requires conclusions: honest and objective information about the circumstances of the organization of troops, management, appointments and replacements of command staff, timely rotation of troops, timely reinforcement of the attacked areas with reserves, selection and combat training, solving the problems of "limitedly fit", encouragement and promotion of combat leaders at all levels, tactical intelligence, ammunition supply, quality of compulsory training, timely response, engineering equipment of defense and rear lines, building dense combat formations and timely deployment of reserves, and so on.

“We missed the blow, and the responsibility of the top leadership is not to keep silent and calm, but to make adequate decisions on the situation.”

We missed the blow, and the responsibility of the top leadership is not to keep silent and calm, but to make adequate decisions on the situation. Because the loss of Soledar is, among other things, the actions and inaction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, which failed to react in time for many reasons.

If the command makes objective and not convenient conclusions, the lessons of Soledar will make us stronger. To win, first of all, we need to ask commanders, not soldiers.

Source

About the author: Yurii Butusov, journalist, soldier with Ukraine's Armed Forces. 

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.