Russians trying to follow Tukhachevsky's doctrine – military

Ivan Tymochko, head of the Council of Reservists of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this on Espreso.

"The Russians are trying to stretch the front — an example of this is the Sumy region. The real question is how large, how massive, and how effective this effort will be. This is straight out of Tukhachevsky’s playbook — a Soviet marshal from the Stalin era who believed in throwing millions of soldiers, tanks, and aircraft across millions of kilometers of front line," Tymochko said.

"Even Stalin couldn’t take that nonsense and had him executed in 1937. But later, Tukhachevsky was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union, and his doctrine became the foundation for several Soviet offensives during World War II and beyond," he added.

Tymochko also noted that Russian forces have a long-term strategy to attack civilians, and this was in place even before Ukraine's strikes on Russian airfields.

"Russia’s revenge for the destroyed aircraft — what's that even? Missile strikes on Ukraine are planned anyway. They choose targets regardless of what’s happening inside Russia. They have a separate plan for genocidal strikes against civilians, for breaking through defenses, and for hitting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. And only by chance, when they get lucky, do they hit military sites or troop concentrations," Tymochko emphasized.

• On the night of Wednesday, June 4, Russian forces launched 95 attack drones over Ukraine. Most were shot down by air defense.
• Satellite images of Russia’s Belaya airfield confirm aircraft damage after the Security Service’s Operation Spider’s Web.