Main points
- Russia's spring offensive fails due to the resilience of the Ukrainian army and significant losses of Russian forces.
- Ukraine effectively exploits Russia's weaknesses, including logistical problems, with the support of Western partners.
Russia's spring offensive is failing. This shows the resilience and strength of the Ukrainian army, even though many soldiers have been at the front for years, and some have not been taken out of frontline positions for rotation for weeks or even months.
This opinion was expressed to Channel 24 by US Marine sniper, veteran and volunteer of the International Legion Matthew Sampson, noting that even under such conditions, Russia is unable to achieve success.
Why did Russia's spring offensive stall?
A US Marine sniper noted that fighting is going on every day, but there is no significant progress in Russia. Very often, on the contrary, the enemy loses positions and suffers huge losses among personnel. Russia notes much greater losses than the Ukrainian side, and for us this is an encouraging factor.
At the same time, the Defense Forces are conducting successful counterattacks in the South, particularly in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. According to Sampson, Ukraine is working closely with some Western partners, using different tactics, depending on the available resources.
The defense forces are good at finding different ways to exploit Russia's weaknesses and force it to fight by Ukrainian rules. This is an extremely powerful factor in combat,
– said the veteran of the International Legion.
The Russians are currently having problems with logistics and providing support to their front lines – this is their historical weakness, which was evident in both world wars. The Russians simply did not know how to build a normal support system, unlike the West, which is strong in this.
The battle is usually won by the military on Earth, but the war is usually won by logistics,
– Sampson emphasized.
Ukraine has many Western partners who can help solve logistical problems. Russia does not have such a partnership with anyone who is similar to us in terms of logistics quality. That is why there are so many defeats on the Russian side on the battlefield.
Please note! Ukrainian counterattacks forced Russian troops to transfer units to the Oleksandrivka and Hulyaypil directions, which weakened their positions in the Donetsk region. As a result, the Russian command was faced with a choice: to restrain Ukrainian pressure in the south or to keep reserves for an attack on the so-called belt of fortresses in the Donetsk region.
What are the Russians' plans for spring?
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russian troops are trying to completely capture the Pokrovsky direction by the end of April, but do not have sufficient resources. The enemy is suffering significant losses and is not demonstrating significant progress, while Ukrainian forces are achieving local successes.
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He also emphasized that any talk about transferring Donbas to Russia is unacceptable, as it creates the threat of new attacks, in particular on Kharkiv, and could lead to internal division and weakening of Ukraine's independence.
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Despite continuous attacks along the entire front line, Russian troops are not achieving significant results. Instead, the Defense Forces are successfully operating near Pokrovsk and destroying enemy sabotage groups on the approaches to settlements.