Failed Ukrainian Counter-Offensive and Role Played by Russian Aerospace Forces

Abstract

The Ukrainian Counter-Offensive: The ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive aims to cut the Russian land corridor to Crimea (see Fig 1). To achieve this, the Ukrainians are employing their 9th and 10th Corps, both of which have been newly constituted by grouping the new equipment supplied generously by the West, including over 500 Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) and Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), including the Leopard-2, Challenger-2, Marder, Stryker, Bradley, etc. To support this complement in battle, the West has also supplied the Ukrainians with a large number of long range and precision strike artillery and trained thousands of Ukrainian troops in various Western countries on the use of this equipment. The Ukrainians’ plan is similar to their plan of 2022 which saw them use mobile elements supported by infantry break the continuity of the Russian defences, followed up by the use of manoeuvre for establishing deep thrusts in the Russian held territory, thereby, creating an all-round criticality which forced the Russians to withdraw.