General Zaluzhny on how to win the war that becomes positional. Russian forces decrease attacks on Avdiyivka. Here’s why. Senior U.S. Republicans urge Biden to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine.
General Zaluzhny on how to win positional war
Five months into its counter-offensive, Ukraine has managed to advance by just 17 kilometres. Russia fought for ten months around Bakhmut in the east “to take a town six by six kilometres”. Sharing his first comprehensive assessment of the campaign with The Economist in an interview this week, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, says the battlefield reminds him of the great conflict of a century ago.
“Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he says. The general concludes that it would take a massive technological leap to break the deadlock. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”
Full text of General Zaluzhny’s interview with The Economist. Read also an article written for The Economist by General Zaluzhny and an essay shared with the newspaper.
Russian forces decrease attacks on Avdiyivka, here’s why
Russian forces have decreased attacks in the Avdiyivka direction as they are trying to recover their losses and regroup, spokesperson for the joint press center of Ukraine’s defense forces in the Tavria direction, Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun said on national television on Thursday.
Russian forces reduced the number of assaults on Avdiyivka, he added. In the Tavria section of the front lines, Russian forces carried out 14 air strikes and 959 artillery strikes. Also, there were 30 combat engagements, Shtupun said.
“The enemy continues attempts to encircle Avdiyivka, but now not so actively as the enemy is trying to regroup and recover losses in order to attack further,” he said.
Soon there will be new waves of attacks, he added.
“The enemy is gathering forces for another possible wave of assault operations in the nearest time,” Shtupun said.
Senior U.S. Republicans urge Biden to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine
A group of senior Republicans in the U.S. Congress urged President Joe Biden to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine.
In a letter to Biden dated Nov. 1 and seen by Reuters, the top Republicans on congressional foreign relations and armed services committees said they welcomed reports that the administration has provided some limited-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine, but asked that he also send more longer-range systems.
“Ukraine’s requirement for deep-strike capability remains urgent, particularly to range targets throughout Crimea,” Representatives Michael McCaul and Mike Rogers and Senators James Risch and Roger Wicker wrote.
McCaul chairs the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Rogers leads the House Armed Services Committee, Risch is the top Republican on Senate Foreign Relations and Wicker is the top Republican on Senate Armed Services.
They sent the letter as the Republican-majority House of Representatives moved toward a vote on a standalone bill providing aid to Israel, defying Democratic President Joe Biden’s request for a broad USD 106 billion national security funding bill with funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.