A Russian governor claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south of the country has been completely defeated. The successful development of the battles is attributed to the tactics of maneuver warfare, which Russia applies in the conflict with Ukraine.
The official statement was made just a few days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied any setbacks in the war against Russia, as reported by the German news website merkur.de. According to the state news agency TASS, Russian governor Yevgeny Balitsky announced at a press conference on Monday that the “enemy” has been stopped in the heavily contested Zaporizhzhia region. The “much-praised counteroffensive” has been completely stopped, said Balitsky. The Ukrainian military on the ground now only has rockets supplied from the West to attack Russian territories. “That is all they can do today, due to the resilience of our weapons, the resilience of our fighters, and the competent maneuver defense. Our armed forces have stopped the counteroffensive.”
Russia praises its own war tactics
According to the governor, the battles near the villages of Rabotino and Shtcherbaki in the Zaporizhzhia region continue, but he described them as “practically the death knell of the Ukrainian regime.” The military forces are also “completely exhausted” at these locations. Balitsky attributes Russia’s success to the maneuver warfare against Ukraine, a tactic that, according to the Modern War Institute, involves a “combination of anticipation, deception, relocation, and disruption, leading to moral collapse.” The goal is to circumvent the enemy’s strengths while exploiting weaknesses, ultimately destroying “the will and capability of the opponent to fight.”
Thus, there are differing statements about the war in Ukraine. Although Ukrainian General Staff Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi recently expressed public concerns about the war against Russia, he did not speak of a defeat. He explained that “technological advancement [has] maneuvered [them] into a stalemate,” and the winner in the end will be the one with the longer endurance in reserves.
Image: President.gov.ua, Meeting of the President of Ukraine with the President of the State of Israel 7, CC-BY-4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Image size changed)
