The counter-offensive by Ukraine against Russia has been going on since August. Their careful planning awarded them their biggest prize yet: Kherson.
In war, there is a difference between strategy and tactic. Strategy is the overall plan, the final position one wants to reach on the board to then crush the opponent. Tactics are the single steps that go towards that final plan. In the war between Ukraine and Russia, this difference is clearly displayed before our eyes.
Ukraine is about to reconquer Kherson, doing so without a frontal fight against the city. This would have been too costly for the Ukrainian army, and they are not in a position to waste men or materials. However, Russia is retreating their troops from Kherson even though the conquest of a city always favors the defender. Why?
Because Ukraine thought strategically and used tactics brilliantly. The objective was to take Kherson without a frontal attack, so the other choice was to force Russia to retreat. How do you tactically do that? Simple: you deprive the defender’s army of vital supplies.
Kherson was the only major city captured by Russia in their war. Its strategic importance is hard to understate: Kherson provides water supplies to Crimea and is the key to the conquest of Odessa. Furthermore, the loss of Kherson is another international humiliation for Russia and Putin. The situation does not bode well for Putin’s regime.
How did Ukraine reconquer Kherson
As we already said, Kherson is in a bad defendable position for Russia. It sits on the mighty river Dnieper, but on the same bank as the attackers, the Ukrainians. This means that Russia had to defend Kherson from across the river, moving men and equipment through bridges. If Ukraine could blow those bridges up (which they did), Russia would not be able to defend Kherson as easily.
Further, Kherson is far away from the Russian border. The closest supply depot to supply the city is in Belgorod, a city inside Russia’s borders just north of Kharkiv. As we all know, Ukraine re-conquered the Kharkiv region a few months ago, depriving the Russian army in Kherson of supplies. Conquering Kharkiv was a tactical move, and a brilliant one.
Then, Russia could still supply Kherson through the Kerch bridge that connected mainland Russia with the Crimea peninsula. Once again, the Ukrainian forces bombed the bridge, rendering it unusable.
Kherson was now isolated and indefensible and, despite being Russia’s biggest achievement so far, the Russian position in the city was untenable. Ukraine’s re-conquest of Kherson is likely their biggest achievement of the war so far.
Sure, they reconquered more territory with the Kharkiv attack, but that was just a tactical move towards a bigger strategic objective. Now, Ukraine dealt a massive strategic blow against the Russian invaders.
And after Kherson, the Crimean peninsula lays open.
