Expert: Enemy outnumbered at least five to one in Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors
This was stated by military expert, reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Grabsky in a comment to Ukrinform.
“There are 150,000 Russian troops in the Pokrovsk direction, 50,000 in the Kursk direction. The enemy outnumbers us at least five to one on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions. And it's not about combat capability. They have an a priori advantage in forces and means,” he said.
Even if the military command moved units from Kursk region to Pokrovsk, it would not change the situation on this section of the front much, the military expert believes.
“Because this is higher mathematics - to calculate which tasks are performed by which forces and means and where,” explained Grabsky.
According to the expert, the success of combat operations is influenced by other important factors besides the combat capability of units. According to the charter, the task of commanders is to make each unit combat-ready.
“It's one thing to conduct an operation in Kursk region according to our rules - maneuver defense, when we are not concerned about the territory, but only about what percentage of the enemy's combat potential we can destroy. And it is quite another to fight on our land, in areas that can quickly or even strategically change the rules of the game, and against numerous enemy forces,” said the retired colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For his part, Pavlo Lakiychuk, Head of Security Programs at the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI”, emphasizes that the lack of people at the front leads to tactical breakthroughs in defense.
“The ratio of enemy resources to ours is incomparable. Last year, the Russians were advancing, pushing through our defense at certain points, and now there are “tails” on the map - tactical breakthroughs. And these are not the consequences of a change in Russian tactics - our defense is becoming more sparse, with greater distance between strongholds,” he said.
According to him, the shortage of personnel leads to conditions when there are not enough people on the front line to hold positions, and the enemy does not even need to “punch holes” in the defense, as there are already weak links. “Through these gaps, Russian units infiltrate, cut through our defense and act effectively. Unfortunately, this is a sign of a lack of reserves,” Lakiychuk said.
According to the expert, the example of the 155th Brigade demonstrates that the principle of creating brigades from scratch does not work effectively enough (the 155th Brigade is part of a large-scale project to create 14 brigades from scratch, trained and armed in France, and has recently become notorious for desertions and massive SABs).
“The military (for example, Maksym Zhorin, commander of the Azov regiment) offer: give us fighters in bulk, and we will train them here in units. However, it is necessary to simultaneously strengthen the brigades on the first line of defense and create reserves that would be able to conduct counteroffensive actions to seize the initiative. This requires separate brigades,” said Lakiychuk.
As reported, earlier President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the most difficult situation at the front was in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions.
In particular, over the past day, in the Pokrovsk sector, Ukrainian troops stopped 41 Russian assault and offensive actions in the areas of Myroliubivka, Promin, Sukhyi Yar, Pishchane, Kotlyne, Ukrainka, Yasenove, Novoyelizavetivka, Tarasivka, Yelizavetivka, Lysivka, Zelene, Novyi Trud and Pokrovsk.
In the Kurakhove sector, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled 26 attacks by the occupants on positions near Slovianka, Sribne, Andriivka, Petropavlivka, Kurakhove and Dachne.
Photo: Getty Images
