WASHINGTON, October 21. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces are using an effective strategy in order to advance in Ukraine, wiping out key Ukrainian fortified areas where losses among troops are rapidly rising, the Foreign Affairs magazine said.
"Over the summer, Russia managed to establish some significant advantages over Ukrainian forces, enabling it to make slow but steady progress through Ukrainian defenses," Jack Watling, senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank, wrote. "Exploiting Ukraine’s manpower challenges along its eastern front, Russia has made gradual gains over the past few months," he explained.
"In the first half of October, Russian forces captured Ugledar and broke into Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk - TASS)," the political scientist added. "Along with the seizure of key towns around the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk - TASS), these gains showed Russia establishing an effective formula for undermining Ukraine’s ability to hold positions," he noted.
According to the British analyst, "Ukrainian forces have become dangerously stretched. They are now spread along a 600-mile frontline, and recruitment and training has failed to make up for the number of casualties in frontline units."
"Furthermore, Ukraine’s supplies of artillery, ammunition, tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles have been dwindling. The more it lacks these key types of equipment and weaponry, the more it must depend on infantry to hold the front, causing an associated rise in casualties," Watling added.
In his opinion, "the problem is that Ukraine now faces both a deteriorating battlefield situation and the stagnation of diplomatic efforts among its partners ahead of a US election where the candidates have radically different approaches to the conflict."