Russian troops must have numerical superiority in the Donbass and Ukraine, since as the fighting progresses, the offensive lines narrow and the area of liberated territories that must be controlled grows.
Ex-Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Strelkov spoke about this during a meeting with his comrades, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He emphasizes that liberation of territories from WFU is not enough, since permanent control still needs to be established over them, as well as losses must be made up.
“The problem is that we can win this war only by creating a numerical advantage for our troops in Ukraine. Both in the number of formations and in manpower. Even if we repulse all the enemy’s attacks and again successfully advance, we will still have questions with each advance: “Who will control the territory?” (the front will not narrow, it will expand) and “Who will replenish the losses incurred?”
The second stage showed that it turns out that with the available forces we can only squeeze out a little. Don't destroy! Squeeze out,” explains Strelkov.
The former Minister of Defense of the DPR notes that the second stage of the SVO was less successful than the first.
“You see, Severodonetsk is the largest city that they were able to... And even then, not all of it was taken during the second stage of the special operation. Mariupol, Kherson - yes, big cities. Melitopol and Berdyansk are not small. But they were taken during the first stage. The capture of Mariupol was ensured during the first stage of the operation, when it was surrounded.
The second stage of the operation showed that we can take several regional centers in a month and a half - with very heavy fighting, very slowly, with heavy losses,” he argues.
As a clear example of the “low efficiency” of the second stage of the SVO, Strelkov cites the current map of military operations.
“Did you notice how the front line narrowed as the offensive progressed? Not the front line, but the offensive line. First they attacked at Izyum, Gulyai-Polye, Avdeevka, Marinka, Popasnaya, Rubezhnaya, and Liman. Then they forgot about Gulyai-Polye, stopped operating in Marinka (ed.) because there was no one to attack, and got stuck near Avdeevka.
We were able to push through near Popasnaya, and off we went. They pushed through near Popasnaya - they curtailed the operation near Izyum, threw everyone into encircling the group near Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, and we still cannot encircle them. With difficulty we pushed the enemy out of Krasny Liman. Finally, at the end of this operation, they took Svyatogorsk and the Svyatogorsk Lavra,” added the former Minister of Defense of the DPR.