How is the battle progressing? Slowly, but with persistence.

UKRAINE - In Brief 01 Jul 2023 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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My foreign friends often ask me about my impressions of the counter-offensive. A month has passed since the major battle was announced, but the situation looks unsettling, with no substantial territorial gains to show for it. All the reports from Russian military bloggers about the loss of Western tanks and armored vehicles add to this feeling of unease. To observers, it appears that all attempts to break through the Russian lines have not yielded any results. I’m certainly not a military expert, but I can relay what those who are more informed and professional are saying. Those with military expertise emphasize three things. Firstly, this war is primarily about artillery, not tanks or even fighter planes. Artillery accounts for nearly 80% of all damage caused at the frontlines. Secondly, this war cannot be fought like the meat assaults typical of WWII, as drones detect large groupings of military units long before they begin to move, making them easy targets for artillery. Thirdly, the "detect-and-destroy" routine has proven to be the best practice in this type of warfare, which is exactly the approach the Ukrainian army is currently adopting, although it is time-consuming. Small assault squads approach Russian positions, provoke artillery fire, and then these firing positions are destroyed with high-precision weapons. This process is repeated time and time again. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to bring more reinforcements to the contact line to replace their losses. To put it differently, the current process is more about dismantling the firepower of Russian forces in the south of Ukraine rather than achieving territorial gains. As we observe the destruction of thi...