‘This Will Force Putin To Act Differently’
7- 5.01.2024, 16:05
- 20,640
How the Ukrainian Armed Forces transfer hostilities to Russian territory.
Russia's Belgorod region has become a hot spot in the war between Russia and Ukraine over the past week. Why is it important for the Ukrainian Armed Forces that hostilities move to Russian territory?
The Charter97.org website spoke about this with the director of the Ukrainian research center New Geopolitics Research Network, expert at the Center for the Study of the Army, Conversion and Disarmament Mikhaylo Samus, and the military-political observer of the Ukrainian group “Information Resistance” Oleksandr Kovalenko.
Mikhaylo Samus recalled that the situation in the Belgorod region is not unique:
“Strikes are being carried out not only in this area, but also in all Russian regions where Ukrainian weapons reach. A war on Russian territory is logical. The fact is that when Putin made the decision about war with Ukraine in 2014, he probably did not expect this and expected us to surrender. But that did not happen. The situation is developing quite logically. And it will only get worse for Russia, because weapons production in Ukraine is increasing.
There will be more and more unmanned systems. This process cannot be stopped, so the situation on Russian territory will become increasingly dangerous.”
In turn, Oleksandr Kovalenko noted that in the Belgorod area there is a huge number of military installations that Ukraine needs to liquidate:
“These are warehouses with ammunition and fuels and lubricants, headquarters and command level facilities, especially the West group of troops, which operates along the demarcation line of the administrative border of the Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. These include transit hubs, facilities for tactical aviation and attack helicopters, and so on.
Our priority now is to influence the Belgorod region so that Russia cannot concentrate sufficient forces and means to supply the group of troops “West” and “Center”, which operate along the Lyman-Kupyansk axis and are replenished precisely through the Belgorod region.
The most important thing is that they do not have the opportunity to form a full-fledged strike force to attempt a second entry into the Kharkiv region.”
Mikhaylo Samus says that by striking the Belgorod region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are pursuing one very simple goal:
“Russia must remove its troops from the territory of Ukraine and stop the war. We are hitting the aviation bases in Russia, which are not endless. Several strikes on airfields, the destruction of several dozen aircraft — this is critical damage to Russian aviation. This will force Putin to act differently.
Strikes on command posts, ammunition depots, and oil refineries (of which there are also not an infinite number in the Russian Federation) seriously affect Russia’s military potential.
Let me add here strikes against factories that produce any product, from electronics components to parts for weapons. All this is systematic work that does not bring quick results, but we have no other choice. We need to hit in depth, we need to hit at the front.”
Oleksandr Kovalenko explained that the destruction of enemy forces and assets on its territory is a kind of prevention of their transfer to the combat zone:
“There is a unit that must replace some lost unit on a rotational basis, for example, in Kreminna. It is being prepared to be sent specifically to Kreminna in order to advance on Lyman. And suddenly something flies into this unit and it also loses its combat effectiveness, not even leaving the Belgorod region. As a result, two units immediately require restoration.”
In response to the barbaric shelling of the Russian Federation, can Western allies allow Ukraine to use their weapons on Russian territory? Mikhail Samus noted that this is very unlikely:
“European and American politicians are very sensitive to the lack of escalation of the conflict with Russia. The absence of reasons for drawing NATO into a direct conflict with the Russian Federation is one of the points of the strategy of NATO and the Biden administration.”
In turn, Oleksandr Kovalenko noted that transferring the war to the territory of the Russian Federation will affect the situation in the country itself:
“Discontent will grow in some segments of the population, which will benefit both Ukraine and Belarus. You know, if in 2022 that million Russian men had not left when the “partial” mobilization began, but had taken to the streets, it would have had an effect.”
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