Ukraine's Defence Minister tells journalists how Russians counteract HIMARS, and what they expect
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has stated that the Russian military, due to Ukraine's acquisition of Western weapons, began to move their equipment to greater distances, but they still do not spare their soldiers and are ready to lose even 3 million soldiers, hoping to cover the losses with seizure of "half of Ukraine".
Source: Oleksii Reznikov in an interview with Delfi
Quote: "The Russians are an enemy with whom it is very difficult to fight. They learn very quickly. As a result, the tactics of conducting military operations are also changing.
When they openly invaded Ukraine on 24 February last year, they marched forward in columns, without artillery cover, intelligence, fearing nothing. And they also carried parade uniforms with them, thinking that in three days they would parade through the centre of Kyiv.
It cost them dearly. We destroyed these columns, cut their logistics chains. This led to the first, as they called it, ‘gesture of goodwill’, the liberation of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts. Another manifestation of ‘good will’ took place on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, then in Kharkiv Oblast and Kherson."
Details: Reznikov noted that Ukraine started to receive "things that change the course of the game, such as 155-mm artillery systems, and since mid-summer received the second support, which significantly changes everything, such as HIMARS missile systems and other multiple-launch rocket systems" from partners since May.
Missile systems of Western countries enabled the defenders of Ukraine to hit targets at a distance of 80 km, destroy Russian ammunition and fuel storage points and command posts of the Russian Armed Forces.
Reznikov called this the key to success on the Kharkiv and Kherson fronts.
Quote: "They [the Russians – ed.] learned a lesson from this and began to drag all these infrastructure facilities 120 km away. Yes, it complicated their logistics, but we could no longer hit these targets with HIMARS and other systems. There was a need to find other solutions capable of extending our arms.
That is why we are currently discussing this with our partners, saying that we need new weapons and ammunition to [reach – ed.] them, so that we can hit targets even at a distance of 120 or 150 km. And the dream is to reach more than 300 km."
Details: At the same time, according to Reznikov, since World War II, the Kremlin still considers soldiers "just cannon fodder" and, as before, uses "meatgrinder tactics".
"[For example], Bakhmut. Their 'creeping' attack there is going on for the sixth or even seventh month. They use assault waves, attack tactics. There may be 10 or 12 such waves that directly follow each other. In Bakhmut alone, because of this, they lose up to 500 killed and wounded soldiers per day. But there, first of all, there are Wagner Group soldiers, criminals and convicts, whom they simply [carelessly use in great numbers]," said Reznikov.
Quote: "According to our intelligence, many senior representatives of the Kremlin support their strategic estimating and planning with the following logic: ‘We will not spare one or three million, because with these losses, we will annex half of Ukraine with [a population of] twenty million and thus compensate for these losses’."
Details: At the same time, according to Reznikov, even "Kremlin’s dreams and plans to reach the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts will fail as soon as possible," and the Russian creeping offensive "will fail".
According to Ukraine's defence minister, time is playing in favour of Ukraine, allowing it to prepare units, master new systems, and receive additional air defence systems from partners.
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