Ukrainian Armed Forces Go on the Defensive as Trump's Inauguration Approaches - The Washington Post

The occupying army of the aggressor country Russia is advancing at the front in Ukraine at the fastest pace since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Moscow's biggest advantage in the war is manpower. Although the Russians suffer extremely heavy losses on the battlefield, sometimes, according to Ukrainian soldiers, it seems that their numbers are unlimited.

This was reported by the American newspaper The Washington Post. "As Trump's next presidency approaches, Ukraine's army is on the defensive," the article's headline reads.

According to the newspaper, journalists talked to Ukrainian defenders from six different brigades fighting in eastern Ukraine.

According to the military, there is a shortage of weapons, but it is the brutal attacks of manpower that have proved most effective for Russian forces, which exploit the vulnerability of "Ukraine's increasingly thin defense."

Russian casualties are very high, but repeated attacks, backed by powerful artillery shelling and drones, continue, pushing Ukrainians back to a small area of territory, the military said.

The occupiers have advanced to within three kilometers of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, jeopardizing key logistics and supply routes that pass through the area to other parts of the front line.

"You kill one Russian and two seem to pop up in his place. You get the feeling that there are an unlimited number of them," said Valentyn, an infantryman with the 35th Marine Brigade of Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops can usually repel the first waves of an offensive, soldiers say. But the Russian strategy is based on overwhelming the enemy with large forces, only to eventually break through once their intelligence identifies where Ukraine has gaps in its defense.

The 68th Brigade tank commander, "Physicist," called the Russian strategy "pure insanity," as the Russians probably realize that their chances of survival are slim and push forward anyway.

"Maybe one person from the third group reaches his goal. They dig in there, establish communication and coordinate the others. They gradually accumulate a critical mass of people in one place, not far from our positions. They hold out - they are hit by mortars, everything imaginable is aimed at them. They are suffering heavy losses, but they continue to fight," he said.

Moving in small groups on foot, the most commonly used tactic, also allows the Russians to secretly build up their forces one or two people at a time before the next attack. Armored vehicles are rarely used in offensives, soldiers say.

"You think everything is fine because you haven't seen many enemies, and suddenly ten people run out of one basement. This happened to us recently. Where did they come from?" said Taras, a deputy commander fighting near Pokrovsk.

At the same time, the ranks of the Ukrainian military are "increasingly thinning and unable to repel the Russian onslaught"; those on the front lines "describe exhaustion and a drop in morale," according to The Washington Post.

And the military, which has said it believes in fighting until the last occupiers are pushed out of Ukraine, is increasingly supporting President-elect Donald Trump's call for negotiations to end the war, the article says.

The lowering of the minimum conscription age to 25 came too late, when units were already experiencing serious shortages after months without replenishment, the newspaper writes, citing military officials.

"When I first joined the army, the situation was bad. But now, for a new person, the situation is so bad that I do not condemn anyone who deserts," said Oleksandr, a 27-year-old infantryman with the 35th Brigade.

While former Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny called for 500,000 people to be mobilized in 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected this figure as too high.

Ukrainian and Western officials estimate that about 200,000 recruits have been called up so far.

Zelenskiy also rejected White House proposals to further reduce the draft age to 18, the American newspaper recalls.

"I'm not giving you numbers, but it's terrible. People are being called to fight, but unfortunately, we have losses, and these losses need to be replenished. And this is really not enough," said Taras, a deputy commander of a battalion fighting near Pokrovsk.

Some soldiers said they have also come to terms with the reality that Western arms support is dwindling and likely to continue to decline. Without the flow of this aid, Ukraine will not have the military resources to push the Russians back, soldiers on the front say.

Russia maintains artillery superiority and now uses new self-destructing drones that fly using fiber optic cables, making them particularly deadly; they are largely invulnerable to electronic interference because they are controlled through long, thin coils rather than radio waves.

Several Ukrainian soldiers said they feared that the Russians would continue to push the front line westward toward the major city of Dnipro, which has a population of about 1 million.

Many of the soldiers interviewed by journalists were skeptical that dictator Vladimir Putin would agree to a ceasefire while his forces appear to have the initiative. They fear that Zelenskiy will have to make painful concessions. Others expressed concern that even if the fighting stops this year, Russia could attack again in the future.

"Let's be honest, the situation is worse now than at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. What can we agree on now? We can only nod our heads and agree to their demands, and what they will demand will obviously be something we will not like," said Taras, 33, a captain and company commander with the 35th Brigade.

The most acute shortage of personnel in Ukraine is among the infantry, as soldiers are needed to stand on the front lines. Last year, Ukraine copied one of Russia's best recruitment tactics: It released convicts who agreed to fight in high-risk assault units. But they did little to plug the gaps, commanders say.

One officer spoke to reporters and expressed regret that Kyiv had waited so long to recruit prisoners after Moscow did so in the early months of the war.

Volodymyr, a 33-year-old man serving a prison sentence for beating a man to death, was one of the first to join the 93rd Mechanized Brigade's convict battalion. He has already conducted five assaults on Russian positions.

"No one forced us to fight - we volunteered - so maybe we are more motivated than those who were drafted from the street," he says.

Ukrainian soldiers say that losses in defensive positions are higher than in the offensive.

Drone surveillance has allowed both armies to track any movement on the battlefield, and the biggest danger now is a direct hit on a position.

Taras said that driving any vehicle without an electronic warfare jammer to repel drone attacks rarely happens because the risks are too high.

"The worst thing is when the guys don't even have time to get to the position. When you are on the front line and get wounded there, it is understandable. But there are situations when people go on a combat mission for the first time in their lives, and this happens," he said.

The Russians' move to drones controlled by fiber optic cables up to 19 kilometers long means that jamming is not always effective.

Oleksandr, from the 35th Brigade, said he noticed the cables on tree branches, but could not risk trying to cut them with a knife. If he had been spotted, he would almost certainly have been killed by another drone, he said.

"After a mission with all these drones, you get very paranoid. Every sound, every movement, you identify as a drone and try to hide from it," he said.

According to the article, in his New Year's address, Volodymyr Zelensky focused on a "just peace" - a "different tone from previous calls for the complete defeat of Russia and the restoration of Ukraine's 1991 borders."

Zelensky said that Ukraine could end the "hot phase" of the war this year and then try to return the occupied territories diplomatically.

"Everything points to a ceasefire. Many things were influenced by the US elections and Trump's rhetoric," said Serhiy Filimonov, commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, The Telegraph said that Ukraine is preparing for a possible reduction in US aid and is actively developing its own weapons, including modernizing the Trembita missile, which could become the cheapest long-range missile in the world. Kyiv also plans to use Ukrainian long-range weapons to strike Moscow. We are talking about thousands of such missiles, the publication writes.

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