“We are making progress”: The Russians are causing trouble for the Ukrainians with new tactics

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The Ukrainian counter-offensive has made slow progress in recent weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin (71) had to change war tactics again. Now Russian forces are trying to encircle the small Ukrainian town of Avdiivka. Russian and Ukrainian media report heavy shelling on the city in Donetsk Oblast. “For more than a year there was a risk that Avdiivka would be occupied, but now the situation has rapidly deteriorated,” Vitaly Barabesh, head of the Avdiivka city administration, told AFP.

One reason: the last attacks at the front are accompanied by glide bombs. On Tuesday alone, Russian fighter-bombers dropped at least ten glide bombs on Adiivka, the Kyiv Post reported. In early October, Ukrainian posts were attacked with 40 glide bombs in one day.

The Ukrainian-held city of Berislav on the Dnieper is also currently under attack. According to the Ukrainian military, the Russians fly past the front lines 20 to 30 times a day with modern fighter-bombers such as the Su-34 and drop the bombs.

The Kremlin has increased production of glide bombs

The Russian glide bombers UPAB-1500B and FAB-500 are mainly used. These have wings and satellite connections so that they glide up to 40 kilometers to their destination instead of falling from the sky. The Kremlin has now ramped up production. A bomb has the power to level a tall, multi-story building.

Russia is increasingly attacking Ukrainian positions from the air using a combination of fighter-bombers and intelligent glide bombs. The Ukrainian army has little chance of resisting this. Because there are no fighter jets with which Ukraine could fend off Russian aircraft. On Monday, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat said Ukraine has no means to repel the hover bomb attacks.

Although Denmark and the Netherlands have promised deliveries of F-16 fighter jets after months of insistence by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (45), these have not yet arrived in Ukraine.

Situation in Avdiivka unclear

The fact that Ukraine has the American Patriot system, which can be used to repel fighter-bombers such as the Su-34, is of little use at the front. It is too risky to place these difficult-to-move air defense systems there, because the Russians could destroy them there more easily. And the anti-aircraft equipment at the front, such as the Jaguar tanks, has too little range to combat the aircraft that release their glide bombs at a distance of up to 50 kilometers.

There is different information about the current situation in Avdiivka. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced on Tuesday evening that Ukraine had repelled all attacks and “the loss of positions had been prevented”. The pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Dwa Majora, on the other hand, writes: “The Russian army carries out the most large-scale artillery bombardment of enemy positions in Avdiivka. That only means one thing: things are moving forward.” If Russia manages to encircle and capture Avdiivka, they may attempt to advance further toward Bakhmut, which the Ukrainians recaptured at great cost this spring.

Source: Blick