UKRaine’s Counteroffensive Choice Between the Bold and the Very Bold; UKR Soldiers in Bakhmut Withstand RUssian Phosphorus Attack; UKR Military Says All 35 Drones RU Launched Overnight Destroyed; Putin Brutally Mocked Over Lone Vintage Tank in RU’s Victory Day Parade, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On May 11, 2023

Ukraine’s counteroffensive choice between the bold and the very bold:

The motto of the British Army’s 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, a unit playing a key role in Ukraine’s war effort, is “Who Dares Wins.”

Ukraine is preparing to test the extent of that thesis.

These aren’t easy times for Russian forces in Ukraine. Those forces lack sufficient numbers of capable personnel, equipment, and ammunition. Troop morale is low. The grinding of tens of thousands of Russian personnel and vast amounts of munitions in and around Bakhmut has fostered increasingly vitriolic if theatrical tensions between Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group and Russian conventional forces.

Making matters worse, a Ukrainian counteroffensive looms. The stress of attempting to anticipate where, when, and how Ukraine’s action will begin must be physically and psychologically exhausting. But from Ukraine’s perspective, the operative counteroffensive question is not whether to go bold but rather how bold. They have the advantage over Russian forces in equipment, morale, command and control, munitions, and Western-enabled real-time intelligence (of great value in exploiting evolving battlefield conditions).

The boldest option would be for Ukraine to conduct a pincer movement. A hypothetical possibility here would be a multi-pronged attack, for example, from the area of Horlivka, 15 miles north of Donetsk, and Vuhledar, 20 miles southwest of Donetsk.

While this area is heavily concentrated with Russian forces, any Ukrainian breakthrough would be a severe blow to Russian morale. It might also enable the dissection of Russian forces in Ukraine. That outcome would worsen already critical supply shortages while essentially eliminating Russian prospects for future large-scale offensives. It’s less than 50 miles from Vuhledar to the city of Mariupol, located on the Sea of Azov, so a breakthrough offers potential for strategic victories. The key question here would be whether Ukraine could achieve rapid breakthroughs in multiple areas and whether Russian forces were able to organize an effective retreat to new defensive lines (something they have struggled to do in the past). —>READ MORE HERE

Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut withstand Russian phosphorus attack:

Despite Russian invasion forces in Bakhmut using phosphorous and incendiary munitions prohibited by international law, Ukrainian troops withstood the attack and have continued to defend the city, a military spokesperson has said.

Ukraine’s Operational Command East spokesman, Serhiy Cherevatyi, said on national television on May 9 that Russian invasion forces had violated all possible rules of war, including by using outlawed weapons – ranging from anti-personnel mines to phosphorus munitions.

“Despite the enemy’s viciousness on the battlefield, our soldiers survived. The strategic positions of either our forces or the enemy have remained unchanged. Our positions stand, we are standing,” Cherevatyi said.

Russian invasion forces used phosphorus ammunition and incendiary weapons in Bakhmut on the evening of May 5. Residential areas were set on fire.

The Geneva Convention bans the use of phosphorous bombs in and around settlements. However, Russia has repeatedly used them against civilians in its full-scale war against Ukraine. —>READ MORE HERE

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