Is Europe truly ready to resist Putin's war of attrition? Zaluzhnyi points out crucial nuances

In the war against Ukraine, Russian troops are using the so-called "siege" tactics described in Russian textbooks, which leads to the destruction of the economic and moral state. Europe is not yet ready to counter this strategy as it does not want to leave its "safe space."

This is what the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and now Ambassador to the United Kingdom Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said. In an interview with the media, he pointed out the nuances of such tactics and Putin's threats to European countries.

"We are now seeing that there are no deep breakthroughs on the battlefield, it is more like a gradual squeezing of our soldiers. Russia are losing many, many people to achieve this. They are targeting our economy and civilian objects. There is also an information campaign aimed at undermining mobilization. It includes tactics aimed at changing the attitude of Ukrainians towards the war," said the former Ukrainian army chief.

As a result, he said, the Defense Forces "have problems with personnel" on the front line. In his opinion, this ultimately leads to Ukraine gradually losing ground.

At the same time, he is convinced that the occupiers are not ready to incorporate large-scale fakes to expand their campaign, as this would require huge resources, which the aggressor no longer has.

"Therefore, it is the combined actions aimed at the war of attrition that leads to what we see on the battlefield, and to what is happening with mobilization, to what people think of war itself. This is a set of measures that fit perfectly into the said strategy. We can see that almost all elements of this strategy are being implemented," Zaluzhnyi said.

According to him, Western allies are not ready to counter such danger coming from Russia. He believes that there is no such country in the world that has enough resources to conduct large-scale military operations to resist Russia for a long period of time.

"I even doubt that China is ready to engage in large-scale actions now. If we are talking about short-term actions, European countries are most likely ready for them. But the most important question is whether they are ready for a war of attrition," said the official.

He estimated that in October, Ukraine had to deal with about 1,643 Shahed drones and up to 200 missiles, a part of which destroyed or damaged energy and civilian facilities. In November, the number of Russian targets hitting civilian objects in Ukraine will reach three thousand, and the month is not even over yet.

"So, the number of targets is growing, while the countermeasures are limited and too expensive. I believe that neither Britain nor European countries will be ready for such numbers. Even though they have enough F-16s, which have excellent air defense capabilities, the whole air defense grid can be completely drained in two to three months," the ambassador stated.

He also shared how many guided bombs Russian troops use at the front. In particular, in October and September, the occupiers dropped about 4,500 such bombs along the entire front line (the weight of the warhead of one bomb is 500 kg; for comparison - the weight of Iskander's warhead is 480 kg).

"Does any European country or Britain have at least 5,000 missiles for Patriot systems to shoot down so many guided bombs? I doubt it. They are very expensive and, as a result, it is impossible to produce a lot of them. Therefore, in terms of this danger, we can say that they are probably not ready," Zaluzhnyi said.

He added that ongoing military actions are important in the seige strategy, but it is not the main component. After all, there are several other important areas the Kremlin is active in, namely information and psychological operations, the influence of which is very strong.

"Europe is in its safe space and will not dare to leave it anytime soon. Therefore, in my personal opinion, if they say they are ready for a war of attrition, a lot of restrictions may pop up along the way," the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK summarized.

As reported earlier, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi made an alarming statement that World War III began in Ukraine in 2024. He emphasized that North Korea, Iran and China fully support Russia in its full-scale aggression.

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