Espreso Global AFUoffensive Minefields are biggest obstacles to Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Minefields are biggest obstacles to Ukraine’s counteroffensive

16 July, 2023 Sunday

12:32

Occupying Russian forces attempt to slow Ukraine's counteroffensive by mining fields near their positions

client/title.list_title

The Washington Post writes about it.

According to the soldiers, the long buildup to the counteroffensive, which began about a month ago in several areas of the battlefield in the east and south of the country, gave the Russians time to prepare.

"Areas between 3 and 10 miles deep in front of the Russians’ main strongholds have been densely mined with antitank and antipersonnel mines and trip wires. These defenses have been successful in stalling the Ukrainian advance," the report said.

As a result, the Defense Forces of Ukraine changed their strategy. Instead of trying to break through with combat vehicles and tanks, units move forward, slowly, on foot.

According to WP, “Ukraine’s struggles on minefields have exposed vulnerabilities of the personnel carriers and tanks — especially the newly arrived American Bradley fighting vehicles and German Leopard tanks — that officials had hailed as being key for Ukraine to seize back occupied territory from the Russians.”

"We need special equipment, we need special remote mine-clearance equipment," said Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive

On June 4, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive on the southern frontline, continuing a series of offensives near Bakhmut and in other directions.
On June 24, the Ukrainian Defense Forces officially confirmed the liberation of the territories near Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region, which had been under occupation since 2014.
On the morning of July 3, Hanna Maliar reported that the Defense Forces advanced in the southern and eastern directions. Over the past week, the Ukrainian military liberated about 38 square kilometers.
On July 4, it was reported that Ukrainian military forces were advancing on the southern flank around Bakhmut in Donetsk region and in the south.
On the morning of July 5, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Ukrainian Defence Forces were continuing their offensive in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets, and carrying out counter-battery operations.
On July 7, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that the Defense Forces were advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut and grinding the enemy to a halt in the south, with the ratio of Russian army losses being more than five times higher.
Later, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that the Chechen special forces Akhmat had been redeployed to the Bakhmut direction: the Kadyrov soldiers were allegedly in Klishchiivka.
On July 10, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, emphasized that Bakhmut was under the fire control of the Defense Forces. The General Staff emphasized that since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had liberated 169 km² of Ukrainian land in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, an area commensurate with the size of Odesa. In the Bakhmut sector, the Defense Forces have recovered 24 km² of Ukrainian territory.
On July 12, the General Staff reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had hit the Duna hotel in Berdiansk, as previously reported. Russians were taking away the bodies of the killed soldiers by truck. Ukrainian aviation launched 6 strikes on the Russian forces' military positions and 2 on enemy air defense systems. Over the course of the day, missile and artillery units destroyed 1 control center, 16 artillery pieces at firing positions, 4 anti-aircraft missile systems and 2 enemy electronic warfare stations.
According to the General Staff on July 13, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to conduct offensive operations on three frontlines - Bakhmut, Melitopol, and Berdiansk. At the same time, the Russian army is using reserves and moving its troops.
On July 14, it was reported that the Defense Forces in the Melitopol direction had advanced 1,700 m to the south and southeast in a week.
On July 15, The New York Times reported that the AFU had changed its counteroffensive tactics, focusing on attacking depleted Russian forces with artillery and long-range missiles rather than attacking minefields.