Ukraine’s top soldier predicts another Russian assault on Kyiv, perhaps as soon as January
—theoretically enough to sustain Ukraine’s most intense rate of fire for five months non-stop. But this will be produced over a number of years, not in time for a spring offensive.
Long-term occupation is already poisoning Ukrainian minds, warns Mr Zelensky: “I must admit that this propaganda model of the Kremlin—it works.” Ukrainians in the occupied territories, he says, are like astronauts who cannot take off heavy helmets—limiting what they can see to unrelenting disinformation. “It’s a little scary to see how the de-occupied cities have changed when we go to some of these towns,” he says. A strategy to bleed Russia slowly is therefore off the table.
“All of our successes are due to the fact that we never go head-on,” notes General Syrsky. His gains in Kharkiv owed much to deception and surprise. During the Kherson offensive, commanders were told to plan diversionary action. That drew his attention to weak points in the Russian line around Izyum. He collected reserves by withdrawing individual battalions from different brigades, and assembling them quietly without being spotted.
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