Valery Zalužnyj asked for better defensive lines for a lifetime, but from Kiev the answer has always been: No. While apparently the “Syrsky Line” is under construction, which takes its name from the new commander Alexander Syrsky. According to information from the border of the Kursk region, Ukrainian side, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have started to copy the “Surovikin” defensive line on their territory. The works are taking place at a distance of approximately 5 km from the border and are working very quickly. Up to 3 large tractors are often used during the construction of a support tower, with the rapid delivery of construction materials and equipment via heavy trucks. Even concrete fences, like Russian tetrahedrons, but without sharp edges, which, like the Russian line, are connected by cables, and are delivered quickly
This is also happening because the Pentagon is irritated by the military strategy of the Ukrainian leadership, writes the New York Times. “American military leaders,” the publication recalls, “believe that the Ukrainian armed forces need to concentrate forces for ‘one big battle’. Instead, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has publicly promised to ‘expel Russia’ from all territories, is wasting his energies on battles over cities that have no “strategic value”.
The defense of Avdiivka, which ended with the retreat of the Ukrainian armed forces, lasted too long and was too costly, according to the Pentagon. Ukraine, in turn, is increasingly “despondent” due to the “political paralysis” of Washington, which has suspended the supply of ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. For this reason, the morale of the Ukrainian armed forces is said to be in trouble.
In a long interview on March 8, the new commander of the ground forces Oleksandr Pavlyuk said that “Ukraine aims to carry out counterattack operations in 2024”. “Our task is to stabilize the front line, destroy the enemy as much as possible and regroup the units that need restoration and re-equipment to take them to the training grounds to create a strike group and carry out counterattack actions this year.”
According to Syrsky’s successor, if this is successful, the situation will stabilize. There are still several hot directions where the Russians are concentrating forces: this is Avdiivka, the Chasiv Yar direction, the Terni direction towards Liman.
It is no longer a question of a new “counteroffensive” with access to Crimea or the shore of the Sea of Azov, but only of “counteroffensive actions” to stabilize the front. There is evidence that the Ukrainian armed forces will begin carrying out “counteroffensive actions” in May, at the end of Zelensky’s presidential rule.
Power being undermined by its base: 36.1% of Ukrainians surveyed are in favor of finding a compromise solution with the involvement of leaders of other countries to end the conflict with Russia, according to the results of a survey conducted by the group Ukrainian Socis from 22 February to 1 March.
According to Socis, another 8.2% of those interviewed support the idea of suspending hostilities and temporarily freezing the conflict along the current line of contact (as happened after the signing of the Minsk agreements). The continuation of hostilities until the restoration of the 1991 borders, as the Ukrainian political leadership has always stated, is supported by 33.5% of respondents. As of February 23, 2022, 11% of respondents support the continuation of hostilities until the borders are restored.
Graziella Giangiulio
