The Guardian: What’s next for Ukraine after Russia’s Donbas offensive?
Analysis: Indiscriminate tactics of Russia’s grinding progress in east could characterise next phase of war
The recent Russian advances in the Donbas lead to an inevitable question: whether the indiscriminate tactics the Kremlin deployed there will be a template for future offensives.
With reports of large numbers of troops, artillery and rocket launchers mustering across the border near the Russian city of Kursk – in an area that borders Ukraine’s Sumy province – it is an urgent issue.
While much has been made of the painfully slow and grinding pace of Russia’s recent offensive in the Donbas, the speed of territorial gains is not the only metric.
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WNU Editor: Ukraine's options are limited, and the reports that I am hearing from Ukrainians that know on what is happening in this war are distressing.
So what is next for Ukraine?
There is going to be no let-up in the war. After Donbas Russian forces will be focused on the city of Zaporizhhia (see the above map), and after that the city of Dnipro.
This is open country, and ideal terrain for Russian forces to do what they have always been trained to do. Conduct operations that isolate enemy units, and then destroy them with artillery.
On another sad note. This region and the Donbas has always been the industrial heartland of Ukraine. Its loss will be incalculable for Ukraine, and the Kremlin knows it.