Ukraine decides to reduce battlefield casualties – WP

The pace of the Ukrainian offensive has been slowed down, among other things, by the decision of the Ukrainian command to reduce casualties on the battlefield, while the Western allies expected the Ukrainians to keep pushing.

Source: The Washington Post (WP), with reference to sources familiar with the "secret forecast" by US Intelligence and Ukrainian, US and European government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity

Quote from the WP: "But in the first week of fighting (of the summer offensive – ed.), Ukraine incurred major casualties against Russia’s well-prepared defences despite having a range of newly acquired Western equipment."

"Joint war games conducted by the U.S., British and Ukrainian militaries anticipated such losses but envisioned Kyiv accepting the casualties as the cost of piercing through Russia’s main defensive line, said U.S. and Western officials.

But Ukraine chose to stem the losses on the battlefield and switch to a tactic of relying on smaller units to push forward across different areas of the front. That resulted in Ukraine making incremental gains in different pockets over the summer."

Details: As WP reported, US intelligence believes that Ukrainian forces will not reach the key objective of their offensive, which is Melitopol. 

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