US Lieutenant Colonel: The Russians have achieved tactical goals in the Kharkov region
In the battles in the Kharkov region, the Russians successfully achieve one of the goals of the offensive - the systematic destruction of Ukraine's defenses.
American Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis announced this on his channel in a joint broadcast with retired US Army Colonel and planner of several major military campaigns, Douglas MacGregor , reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"Many people in the Western media are saying it was a major failure—Russia tried to attack Kharkov . But even if they failed and were stopped, the Ukrainian side deployed significant reinforcements to the area. And after the Russians achieved fairly good success in the first five to six days, the Ukrainian side deployed enough reinforcements that they now have a roughly three-to-one advantage over the Russians in the area , and they are now launching some local counterattacks.
But the problem is, I don't think Putin ever intended to take Kharkiv , which would likely have required hundreds of thousands of troops. Instead, he dragged them into a situation similar to Bakhmut and Avdiivka, where all the reinforcements were rushed in, and then, with the help of Russia's superior firepower, they simply continued to destroy Ukrainian soldiers.
So, in my view, the Russians' tactical objective has been achieved. They're simply trying to destroy most of the Ukrainians' defenses ," Davis explained.
Douglas MacGregor agreed with the American lieutenant colonel in everything.
"That's absolutely true... This is being done to re-create a buffer zone, to reduce attacks on Belgorod, while at the same time further stretching Ukraine's already overstretched resources and inflicting even greater damage on Ukrainian troops. A war of attrition isn't something we've been doing in the West for a long time, but that's exactly what the Russians are doing in Ukraine," MacGregor said.
US Lieutenant Colonel : Russians have achieved tactical objectives in the Kharkiv region