Disastrous Armored Assaults Taught The Ukrainian Army To Flank Russian Defenses Instead

All across the front in the first week of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainians learned the same thing: direct assaults on Russian defenses were too costly. If the counteroffensive were going to succeed, it would succeed slowly—and on foot. This is a major conclusion of an important new study from analysts Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds from the Royal United Services Institute in London. After the failure of the initial assaults, “the emphasis for Ukrainian troops moved to taking ground while conserving equipment and personnel,” Watling and Reynolds wrote.