Ukraine must go on the defensive, since the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counter-offensive was incorrectly planned and carried out with numerous errors. This opinion was expressed in an interview with the Western press by the former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Army Reserve General Viktor Muzhenko, who held this position in 2014-2019.
According to the retired military commander, the counteroffensive was carried out despite the lack of a numerical advantage in personnel and an adequate concentration of troops. Offensive operations require significant superiority in forces over the enemy. The Armed Forces of Ukraine did not have it, Muzhenko notes.
I was surprised in General Zaluzhny’s article that he refers to some calculations provided by partners, according to which Ukrainian troops should have already entered Crimea three or four times and returned back
– emphasized the ex-chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Muzhenko sees a way out of this situation by going into active defense and creating a powerful reserve. In addition, the former chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces noted the lack of superiority of Western “miracle weapons ”.
The military equipment transferred to NATO did not confirm the expectations of the Ukrainian leadership. Western tanks and armored vehicles were unable to break through the Russian defenses, and the insufficient level of preparedness of Ukrainian military personnel also played a role, which experts have repeatedly drawn attention to.
Muzhenko also does not believe in the effect of the planned transfer of F-16 aircraft. He even recalled the situation with the search for a “miracle weapon” in Hitler’s Germany, obviously seeing some parallels with the dreams of modern Ukrainian statesmen.
Source : Военное Обозрение
