Defense Express: Russia fails to make operational gains in the spring-summer campaign

Valerii Riabykh, military expert and director of development at the media and consulting company Defense Express, said this on Espreso.

“It can already be stated that the objectives the enemy set for its spring–summer campaign were not achieved. Although there were reports of large reserves — from 150,000 to 200,000 Russian troops — being prepared for offensive operations, the calculated actions of Ukraine’s Defense Forces prevented the invaders from concentrating their forces in one direction and achieving significant success, at least at the operational level,” Riabykh explained.

According to him, Russian advances are now possible only through tactical actions, which do not create conditions for translating gains into operational success.

“Our society should understand that Ukrainian troops, conducting a strategic defensive operation, have staked on trading territory for the vile lives of invaders. Russians are paying a very high price for seizing land. By different estimates, it takes from a platoon to a company of occupiers per square kilometer. Russia’s advances are now achieved through methodical burning of their human reserves,” Riabykh stressed.

• Since the start of September 2, there have been 76 combat clashes on the Russian-Ukrainian front. On the Pokrovsk axis, Ukrainian defenders repelled 20 enemy attacks.