Ukraine's Offensives: Tactical Victories Can Contribute to Strategic Defeat (TheNewAtlas)

- The Kherson offensive has failed, costing Ukraine multiple brigades’ worth of men and equipment with little territorial gain;
- The Kharkov offensive has cost Ukraine a large amount of men and equipment with significant territorial gains but failed to eliminate the Russian forces holding the region;
- Russia’s decision to withdraw from Kharkov conserves men and equipment for fighting later on and to be determined on Russian terms;
- There will be a significant strategic cost for Ukraine’s tactical gains - some of which are already being paid along the line of contact where Ukrainian lines have been weakened as Kiev cobbled together these offensive forces;
- There are significant parallels between this Ukrainian push and Germany’s Ardennes Offensive in 1944;
- Russia is targeting Ukrainian infrastructure including communication towers and power plants for the first time amid its military operations, signalling a possible escalation;



With any analysis on the conflict it's better to not get too emotional so you can sort out the objective reality. The pro Russian commentators seem to do this better while it is true that the Ukrainian side has been running a huge propaganda campaign since the beginning that makes their accounts of the fighting not immediately believable.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, September 14, 2022.]