Russia's 'thousand cuts' tactic puts great pressure on Ukraine

Russia's deployment of tactics likened to 'a thousand cuts' has put considerable pressure on Ukrainian forces facing many challenges in terms of human and material resources.

Ms. Dara Massicot, senior fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (USA), commented: "What Ukrainian units are facing is significant pressure from Russian tactics."

Ms Massicot said the Russians were attacking in very small groups, day and night. “It was thousands of lethal cuts. This put a huge strain on undermanned units,” she said. Such tactics were reported in Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Pokrovsk, among other places in Ukraine.

Severe military shortage, Ukraine deploys air defense soldiers as infantry

Small-scale Russian attacks have been a problem for Ukraine throughout the nearly three-year conflict. The challenge is exacerbated by Kyiv’s severe manpower shortage, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reduced from 27 to 25 to address.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench in the Kharkiv region on December 22, 2024.

Not only Ukraine, Russia also faces difficulties in mobilizing human resources. In early December, conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW-USA) assessed that Russia's efforts to maintain pressure on the entire battlefield in Ukraine are putting pressure on the domestic labor force. ISW believes that Russia will find it difficult to continue this way in the medium term.

Earlier in December, the British Ministry of Defence said that Russia had suffered its highest casualty toll of any month of the conflict in November, averaging more than 1,500 soldiers killed and wounded each day. The British relied on figures from Ukrainian intelligence, but could not verify their accuracy. Russia has not commented.

"The high casualty rate likely reflects a higher tempo of Russian operations and attacks," the UK Ministry of Defence said, adding that Moscow would likely continue to suffer more than 1,000 casualties a day as its forces advance along the frontline.

Ukraine fired a small multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) towards Russia on December 25, 2024

Despite the casualties, Russia is still putting enormous pressure on Ukraine's defense forces, and the attacks are effective, Ms. Massicot said.

Russia is now trying to attack Ukrainian defense positions from different directions of the front. The latest Russian advance is to control most of the town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine. One important area that Moscow is focusing on is the city of Pokrovsk - an important logistics and railway center in southwestern Ukraine. Russia is also trying to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region (Russia). In addition, the Ukrainian military believes that Moscow's forces are preparing to open another attack in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chien-thuat-nghin-vet-cat-cua-nga-gay-suc-ep-lon-cho-ukraine-185241228102144968.htm