Russian troops trapped by river and Ukraine forces

 Washington Examiner:

A major Russian military force could be destroyed by Ukraine following a gambit that baited Russia's commanders into sending their troops into a vulnerable position.

“They are trapped between Ukrainians and the river,” a senior European official told the Washington Examiner. “They are all in range of Ukrainian artillery at the moment.”

That bleak scenario for Russian forces has been described not only by trans-Atlantic observers eager for Ukraine’s victory but also by pro-Russian sources alarmed by the turn of events sprung upon the invading troops in recent weeks. The Russian lines have traced the shape of a fishhook on the map of Ukraine — from Crimea and Kherson in the south, north and east toward Donbas before curving around toward Kharkiv — but Ukrainian counterattacks have blunted that hook near Kharkiv and exposed the vulnerability of the invading troops at the opposite end of the Russian line in a precarious position, as even Russian sources acknowledge.

“An interesting technique: they achieved success in one direction — brought us to a state where we do not think about any offensive operations in this direction, only about stabilizing the frontline — and offensive surpluses are transferred to another sector,” the commander of the Vostok Battalion, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, who has led the pro-Russian force since his defection from Ukraine in 2014, wrote in a Telegram post. "A developed transport infrastructure allows them to maneuver with limited forces, creating accumulations in places where it is necessary according to the plan, and the presence of a plan and its implementation is the possession of a strategic initiative.”

That grim compliment, translated by the Estonia-based War Translated project, reflects the “brilliant” stratagem of Ukrainian General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, as a former U.S. ambassador put it. The curvature of the Russian positions gave Ukrainians the advantage of “interior lines” — that is, the defending Ukrainian forces inside the fishhook can move along a straight line from one contest to another, while the Russian troops have to take a longer route along the outside of the curve to move from one end of the war zone to the other.

“From Kharkiv to Kherson, this arc [of Russian-held territory in Ukraine] — for a long time, the Ukrainians made it pretty clear that their counteroffensive was going to be down near Kherson, and the Russians noticed, they moved their troops around ... and prepared and dug in,” former Ambassador Bill Taylor, a veteran of the Vietnam War who led the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on two occasions, told the Washington Examiner. “And then the Ukrainians apparently transferred this surplus, these additional forces [to Kharkiv] and drove [the Russians] way, way, way back. That’s brilliant generalship. The [American] Civil War generals would be in awe.”

The efficient maneuverability of the Ukrainian forces makes for a marked contrast with the clipped wings of the Russian forces, as described by the pro-Russian sources. Khodakovsky described Ukraine as “accumulating resources” around the Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, a pair of cities in the Donetsk district, part of the Donbas region that has been ravaged by the war since 2014. In parallel, the Russian troops around Kherson find themselves on the receiving end of punishing artillery barrages — a kind of bludgeoning that they relied on throughout the summer to power their own attacks on Ukraine.

...

While Russia is stuck behind some water barriers, Ukraine is able to attack its positions with artillery.  The Ukraine forces are clearly better led than the Russians and Ukraine troops appear to be more motivated.  As noted in a previous post, Russia is trying to annex parts of Ukraine to try to generate more support for the war at home and increase its troop strength.  This war demonstrated Russia had a very overrated army.