War in Ukraine
Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a U.K.-based think tank, said that if Ukraine tries to retain control of the captured area inside Russia, its troops would soon be vulnerable to heavy Russian air and ground attacks. “The challenge is that it looks like the Ukrainians might be about to consolidate and dig in,” Savill said. “Once they do that, and their rate of advance has slowed, they will become a target. And so the question for them is, how long are they planning to endure?” If Ukraine tries to hold on to territory around Kursk for several months, “that is going to be tough just to logistically supply that in the face of Russian air attack,” added Savill, a former senior official in the U.K. ministry of defense.
