The Ukrainian army has not made much progress for several weeks. Is it a strategic lull or a regroup before a strong offensive?
hot potato
The Ukrainian army is still on the offensive: At the beginning of November it launched a new attack against the Russian positions around the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk Oblast (east of the country) – so far unsuccessfully – to cut off an important supply route.
Ukrainian authorities acknowledge slow progress, slowed by weather conditions, rain and mud. At the same time, special forces are trying to gain a foothold on the left bank of the Dnieper in the islands and swamps of the Kinbourn Spit, a strategic peninsula en route to Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014.
The Russian army’s efforts in Ukraine are currently focused on capturing the entire Donetsk region in the east, its chief of staff Valery Gerasimov announced on Thursday. According to him, the front line with the Ukrainian armed forces is currently 815 kilometers long.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbass, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in southern Ukraine, is “extremely difficult”. These are four areas that Moscow claims to annex without having fully conquered them.