Ukrainian troops are probing Russian defences as spring gives way to a second summer of fighting, and Kyiv's forces are facing an enemy that has made mistakes and suffered setbacks in the 15-month-old war. But analysts say Moscow also has learned from those blunders and improved its weapons and skills.
U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday that while Ukraine's military is well-prepared, as time goes on, "this will be a back-and-forth fight for a considerable length of time."
A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it had begun, but that Ukraine failed to make any headway and suffered "significant" losses. "People are still using those two successes, and they were successes, as benchmarks, which I think is unfair, unreasonable in the circumstances," he said.
Despite those setbacks, Russia dug in to defend broad parts of Ukrainian territory it captured early in the invasion. Last month, it claimed control of the eastern city of Bakhmut after the war's longest and bloodiest battle.Russian troops continue to suffer from low morale, there are shortages of ammunition, and coordination between units has remained poor.
While Russia has increasingly tapped its Cold-War arsenals, deploying tanks dating to the 1950s to replenish its massive, early losses, such old weapons can still perform well, Zhdanov said. While the Russian air force has operated in relatively small numbers, it has modernized its stock of bombs to turn them into gliding weapons that have proven efficient, he said. The 500-kilogram bombs adapted with a GPS module can inflict massive damage.
These conversions allow the Russian air force to ramp up strikes on Ukrainian forces without risking its warplanes.
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