The Ukrainian counter-offensive is at a standstill and NATO is also to blame. This is what a grave mistake has been made.
Was the Ukrainian counteroffensive a failure? The massive counter-offensive that began last June 6 may have forgotten to perform an essential action to achieve the objective: the Kyiv generals have not opened a gap. But why? NATO has forgotten to train the Ukrainian army on "spotter" operations.
According to the analyses of some experts, published in La Repubblica, the Ukrainian commanders ignored the importance of the assault units, i.e. those who open passages in the minefields during the assault, take away the affected vehicles before the artillery destroys them and build bridges over the streams to allow passage in both directions.
Kyiv would do none of this, leaving room for Russian traps. The results are clear: the counter-offensive has been stopped for 48 days. In short, a mistake was made somewhere, or there wasn’t time to train specialized teams.
The fault therefore also lies with NATO which has not deployed or encouraged to deploy similar forces. A team like this uses tools that Western exercises jealously covet and rarely donate or sell. An explanatory example is reported: while the tanks retire because they are outdated, the means that tow, clear mines and build bridges do not. Indeed, these were modernized at the last NATO summit.
The mistake of the Ukrainian counter-offensive: the assault sappers
Ukraine has prepared the counter-offensive but has forgotten about the units and means of assault engineers. This is a serious mistake, according to commentators, and the reason why the counter-offensive has stalled for a long time.
By "assault engineers" we mean a special army unit that supports troops on the field. They are also called spoilers, because they attack enemy defenses, as in the defusing or demining of unexploded ordnance.
Among the tasks of the assault engineers, there are therefore all the preparation practices of the territory, before and after, for example with the creation of an escape passage and making it safe.
Ukrainian counteroffensive: whose fault is it?
Commentators say Ukrainian commanders committed a serious mistake: the absence of "spoilers". In fact, NATO, which helped bring about the Kyiv counter-offensive, has forgotten the assault engineer team.
There are at least two possible reasons for the team’s absence: the first is a lack of time to train the Kyivan army for similar actions; the second is jealousy of Western forces.
Gianluca Di Feo in Republic recalls that in Vilnius among all the military means financed for modernization, there are precisely the "pioneer" tanks, i.e. those used to tow, de-mine and build bridges. The activity of the spoilers has therefore once again become central, even in exercises, but not for the counter-offensive in Ukraine.
Thus Kyiv has not deployed any of these systems, pushing the armored columns towards the traps set by the invaders and the counter-offensive has not advanced for 48 days. The solution? Germany took a modest step forward by donating two vehicles suitable for these purposes.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-07-23 20:05:33. Original title: Controffensiva Ucraina, commesso un grave errore (con la partecipazione della Nato)
