Zaluzhny: War with Russia moving to a new stage
“The war is now moving to a new stage: what we in the military call ‘positional’ warfare of static and attritional fighting, as in the first world war, in contrast to the ‘manoeuvre’ warfare of movement and speed. This will benefit Russia, allowing it to rebuild its military power, eventually threatening Ukraine’s armed forces and the state itself,” Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny told The Economist.
According to him, basic weapons, such as missiles and shells, remain essential for Ukraine. The Armed Forces of Ukraine need key military capabilities and technologies to break out of this kind of war. The most important one is air power. Control of the skies is essential to large-scale ground operations, Zaluzhny stressed.
The Commander-in-Chief called UAVs one of important things. In his opinion, Ukraine needs to conduct massive strikes using decoy and attack drones to overload Russia’s air-defence systems. Another important thing, according to Zaluzhny, is electronic warfare (EW), such as jamming communication and navigation signals.
“EW is the key to victory in the drone war. Russia modernised its EW forces over the past decade, creating a new branch of its army and building 60 new types of equipment. It outdoes us in this area: 65% of our jamming platforms at the start of the war were produced in Soviet times. We have already built many of our own electronic protection systems… We need to get better at conducting electronic warfare from our drones, across a wider range of the radio spectrum, while avoiding accidental suppression of our own drones,” he said.
According to Zaluzhny, counter-battery fire defeating enemy artillery is also a priority.
“In this war, as in most past wars, artillery, rocket and missile fire make up 60-80% of all the military tasks. When we first received Western guns last year, we were quite successful at locating and striking Russian artillery,” he stressed.
The fourth priority is mine-breaching technology.
“When we do breach minefields, Russia quickly replenishes them by firing new mines from a distance. We need radar-like sensors that use invisible pulses of light to detect mines in the ground and smoke-projection systems to conceal the activities of our de-mining units,” the Commander-in-Chief said.
Zaluzhny’s fifth and final priority is to build up reserves.
“Our capacity to train reserves on our own territory is also limited. We cannot easily spare soldiers who are deployed to the front. Moreover, Russia can strike training centres. And there are gaps in our legislation that allow citizens to evade their responsibilities,” he noted.
According to him, the military command tries to fix these problems, in particular by introducing a unified register of draftees.
“We are also introducing a ‘combat internship’ which involves placing newly mobilised and trained personnel in experienced front-line units to prepare them,” Zaluzhny said.
He also urged not to underestimate Russia which will have superiority in weapons, equipment, missiles and ammunition for a considerable time despite heavy losses.
Photo: The Washington Post
