That’s the kind of military plan hitler would order after a bit too much meth, to get to Rostov Ukraine would need to go hundreds of miles behind enemy lines with no logistics
Hitler also used the largest invasion force in history (3.8 million troops, vs 3 million for the Nazi invasion of France or 2 million for the allied invasion France). And still failed so badly he lost the entire war.
Though it is hard to compare them because the contexts are so different. Russia isn’t as motivated this time as USSR was in the 1940s.
There’s no way they realistically hold or capture any of this. They just don’t have the logistics. But it’s an amazing opportunity to create a dilemma for Russia. They either 1) ignore it and let Ukrainian forces rampage around in Russian territory unopposed or 2) they redeploy forces from the front to defend Russian territory.
The Ukrainian forces should stay nimble either way, and retreat without too big a fight back to their own territory in the latter case, hopefully having caused enough of a diversion for a counteroffensive where they need it.
To add to that, on a map it all looks small, so you can imagine: go here, get there. But to actually “cross the front in the opposite direction into Donetsk region” they would need to cover about 300 km - quick, unprotected and without any logistical support, or slow but sure, but this is what they might plan anyway. They will probably try to widen the gap and dismantle the border defences
There’s an interesting possibility 3 …. Not that I have any idea about what is realistic in this war, but what if the goal is actual fighting? The active front is dig in and fatal to anything that moves: advancing is next to impossible. However western weapons were meant for speed, maneuverability. What if they draw Russia out to a fight on Western terms?
They could probably pull some gorilla attacks off behind their lines, but there’s no way they have the logistics to do a full assault on the rear. The best option would probably be to harass Russian supply lines.
So what about going around the rear and attacking Donbass from the russian side? I have no further knowledge, just spitballing here
That’s the kind of military plan hitler would order after a bit too much meth, to get to Rostov Ukraine would need to go hundreds of miles behind enemy lines with no logistics
Hitler also used the largest invasion force in history (3.8 million troops, vs 3 million for the Nazi invasion of France or 2 million for the allied invasion France). And still failed so badly he lost the entire war.
Though it is hard to compare them because the contexts are so different. Russia isn’t as motivated this time as USSR was in the 1940s.
There’s no way they realistically hold or capture any of this. They just don’t have the logistics. But it’s an amazing opportunity to create a dilemma for Russia. They either 1) ignore it and let Ukrainian forces rampage around in Russian territory unopposed or 2) they redeploy forces from the front to defend Russian territory.
The Ukrainian forces should stay nimble either way, and retreat without too big a fight back to their own territory in the latter case, hopefully having caused enough of a diversion for a counteroffensive where they need it.
To add to that, on a map it all looks small, so you can imagine: go here, get there. But to actually “cross the front in the opposite direction into Donetsk region” they would need to cover about 300 km - quick, unprotected and without any logistical support, or slow but sure, but this is what they might plan anyway. They will probably try to widen the gap and dismantle the border defences
There’s an interesting possibility 3 …. Not that I have any idea about what is realistic in this war, but what if the goal is actual fighting? The active front is dig in and fatal to anything that moves: advancing is next to impossible. However western weapons were meant for speed, maneuverability. What if they draw Russia out to a fight on Western terms?
They could probably pull some gorilla attacks off behind their lines, but there’s no way they have the logistics to do a full assault on the rear. The best option would probably be to harass Russian supply lines.
Flanking attacks snowball when you collapse the fortified lines and link up with your own forward deployed troops.