Kurakhove. Before the war, 18,000 inhabitants, and soon there would be nothing left. West of Donetsk, the small town, which borders one of the main power plants in eastern Ukraine, is the subject of a terrible assault by the Russian army. Today, only a few dozen people survive here, often unconscious old people who mystically await the return of the USSR, not understanding that they risk finding themselves buried under five floors of concrete.
The Russians are not yet in a position to launch frontal assaults against the largest cities in Donbass that still remain under Ukrainian control – Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk – so they are advancing into the smaller ones. “This is an extremely difficult period of the war, we are facing a human tide,” testifies Dima, a soldier of aerial reconnaissance, a unit of explosive drone pilots based in Kramatorsk and which covers the entire Donbass sector.
Heavy human losses
“The Russians sometimes use armored vehicles, but it is rarer,” continues Dima. Now, they advance in groups of four or five soldiers who ride on small motorcycles or buggies, one after the other. The first groups are decimated, then others arrive very quickly and take positions. It never stops. » The numerical superiority and fatigue of the Ukrainian soldiers, who have not been relieved for 1,000 days, are the main asset of the Russians, who are estimated to be losing 1,000 to 1,500 soldiers per day, dead or wounded .
In the background, large-scale political maneuvers. Vladimir Putin wants to conquer as much territory as possible before the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2025, even if it means sacrificing tens of thousands of soldiers and launching a new assault to the south in the Zaporizhia region. “Trump is betting that once in power, the Europeans will drop the matter,” said Oleksandr Musiienko, director of the Center for Military and Legal Studies in Kyiv. According to him, it is unlikely that the Russians will achieve this goal in two months.
An active defense
“The Russians have their “Stalingrad” limits, they cannot multiply them! Almost all the battles that the Russians fought in the Donbass were Stalingrads, Musiienko believes. It makes them proud, but how many Stalingrads are the Russians prepared for? » On the Ukrainian side, we are turning our backs, hoping that the front does not crack. “In Donbass, for us, currently, the priority is to carry out active defense, stop Russian attacks and launch attacks from the rear,” explains Oleksandr Musiienko.
“Active defense”, in military language, means accepting the temporary superiority of the enemy, sucking the attackers into battles intended to bleed him irremediably. Agree to retreat to the rear when there is nothing left to defend. And wait for better days, and for the allies to finally agree to provide military aid that will make a difference.
