Ministry of Defence of Ukraine: Russia doesn’t have a strategy, the military makes plans for several days in advance

Olena Roshchina - Tuesday, 12 April 2022, 14:37

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Hanna Maliar, stated that Russia is currently waging war based on the military situation on the ground and is not pursuing a strategy. For that reason, plans for the entire territory of Ukraine will depend on how the Russian army fares in the fighting in Ukraine’s south and east.

Source: Hanna Maliar, in a nationwide television broadcast

Details: The Deputy Minister of Defence said that there is no reason to talk about a lull, since the intensity of the fighting has not abated, although the territory on which military operations are being conducted has shrunk.

According to Maliar, while there are considerably more territories now which have been won back from the aggressors or which the aggressors haven’t entered, the situation in the captured territories is complicated.

The aggressors have withdrawn their troops from the north of the country, but only in order to regroup, rest and replenish their forces.

Quote: "Today they’re looking for ways to recruit personnel and they’re having problems, even though they’ve always said that their military was a million strong. At present, that’s hard to believe. It’s impossible to say for certain whether or not a strike will be conducted from there.

"That’s because if, before 24 February, the Russians had precise, strategic plans for a short, clearly defined time frame, now their plans are based on the situation on the ground. They make plans [only] for the next few days.

"There’s an overall military concept, but some of the operations carried out by Russian troops, and the decisions taken by Putin, go beyond the limits of military logic. At times they’re emotional, and often irrational. That’s why it’s impossible to foresee anything for certain.

"We must be prepared for any scenario. There is a risk of horrific scenarios. What is ‘horrific’? The use of chemical weapons - that’s a risk, and there’s also a risk that they will try again to break through the borders and advance deep into Ukrainian territory. All these risks exist today because the war is continuing."

Details: Maliar said that Russia is now concentrating most of its forces in Ukraine’s south and east, but that these are only "the intermediate goals that the aggressors have set for themselves, before targeting all of Ukraine."

The Deputy Minister stated that "the south and the east are of strategic interest to the aggressors. The situation there is very complicated."

"If the military situation permits - because now they are guided only by the military situation, since their strategic plans have already practically collapsed - they will, of course, carry out their plans in the whole of Ukraine," said Maliar.

She noted that "even in 2014, all of Ukraine was Russia’s objective."

Background:

• Russia began a full-scale war against Ukraine on 24 February, after eight years of hybrid war.

• The United States and NATO predict a prolonged war by Russia in Ukraine, but the Americans do not rule out a Ukrainian victory.

• On 10 April, the Mayor of Kyiv, Vitalyi Klychko, did not rule out the possibility that Russian troops would make another attempt to take the capital.

• On 11 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that it is too early to say that the   Ukrainians have won a decisive victory in the battle for Kyiv.

• The Ministry of Defence considers that the possibility of a renewed attack on Kyiv by Russian troops will depend on the outcome of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
  "Near Russia’s border with Ukraine’s Sumy Region, Russian troops are constantly being deployed, but the strike force isn’t there," said Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, Director of the Sumy Region Military Administration.