22 Aug, 2023 23:44

Russian president comments on Kiev’s battle tactics

The Ukrainian authorities don’t treat their own soldiers as humans, Vladimir Putin has said

Ukraine is senselessly turning its own soldiers into cannon fodder for Russian troops, President Vladimir Putin has said, while reflecting on the methods employed by Kiev during its ongoing offensive.

“As you can see, the situation on the contact line is currently stable,” the Russian leader said, during the meeting with Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) acting head Leonid Pasechnik in the Kremlin on Wednesday.

Putin went on to comment on Kiev’s recent tactics, which have failed to yield any significant territorial gains, but cost heavy losses of Ukrainian troops and armor.

“They are throwing [Ukrainian soldiers] on our minefields, under our artillery fire, acting as if they are not their own citizens at all. It is astonishing,” Putin said.

Despite Kiev’s public optimism regarding its offensive operations, which were launched in early June, international media has reported that Western officials were growing concerned and frustrated over the lackluster results achieved by the Ukrainian military, as well as the loss of NATO-supplied equipment, including heavy tanks.

Ukrainian armored units have been struggling to get past dense Russian minefields and had failed to break through fortified positions. The New York Times cited unnamed US and British officials on Tuesday as saying that the planners in Kiev had made the mistake of dispersing their attacking units across the long front line rather than focusing on a concentrated strike in a single area.

https://www.rt.com/russia/581677-putin-ukraine-battle-tactics/

22 Aug, 2023

Ukraine threatens more attacks on Crimea

Something will happen “in the next few days,” military intelligence chief Budanov has said

Kiev is preparing another attack on Crimea in the next several days, Kirill Budanov, head of Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told reporters on Tuesday.

In an interview with the Ukrainian outlet ITV, Budanov claimed there were “a lot of people on the peninsula who are eagerly anticipating”the return of Ukrainian rule, and that Kiev needs to “instill confidence” among them.

“That is why initiatives like the Crimean Platform are crucial. This involves resistance in the temporarily occupied territories and the removal of occupiers from our Crimea. Our actions are apparent now, with more to come in the next few days,” Budanov said.

The ‘Crimean Platform’ is an initiative of President Vladimir Zelensky’s government, which seeks to portray Russia as the “occupier” and oppressor of Crimean Tatars. Residents of the peninsula had voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia in March 2014, shortly after the US-backed coup installed a government of Ukrainian nationalists in Kiev.

Budanov’s comments about “apparent”Ukrainian actions appeared to be a reference to last week’s admission by the SBU security service chief, Vasily Malyuk, that the July 17 attack on the Crimean Bridge was carried out by Ukrainian sea drones. Malyuk sent footageof the drone attack to CNN and other US outlets, calling the drone ‘SeaBaby’ and promising more strikes to come.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Crimea in recent weeks, targeting the bridge from Taman to Kerch with air and sea drones as well as long-range missiles provided by the West. In the last week alone, Russian air defenses thwarted an attempted missile strike on the bridge and downed 20 drones aimed at the peninsula.

Moscow has shrugged off the attacks as an attempt by Kiev to distract from its failures on the battlefield. The much-heralded offensive, launched in early June, has so far failed to breach the Russian lines in Zaporozhye, and cost Ukraine over 43,000 troops and nearly 5,000 pieces of heavy equipment, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Some US officials, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, seconded Moscow’s assessment. The drone attacks may have intended to unnerve Russia, but are “not doing anything decisive,” one senior Pentagon official told the outlet last week. “And it would probably be better for everyone for them to just focus on the counteroffensive.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/581673-budanov-ukraine-crimea-attacks/