Top Ukraine general says war with Russia moving to attritional phase
- General Valery Zaluzhny said Ukraine’s counteroffensive is unlikely to break through Russia’s lines
- He said Ukraine needed new military capabilities, including air power and mine-breaching technology
Ukraine’s war with Russia is moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief has said.
In an article for The Economist published on Wednesday, General Valery Zaluzhny said his army needed key new military capabilities and technological innovation to break out of the new phase of the war, now in its 21st month.
Using stark language, he described risks of prolonged, attritional fighting: “This will benefit Russia, allowing it to rebuild its military power, eventually threatening Ukraine’s armed forces and the state itself”.
His article comes almost five months into a major Ukrainian counteroffensive that has not made a serious breakthrough against heavily mined Russian defensive lines. Fighting is expected to slow as the weather worsens.
Russian troops have gone on the offensive in parts of the east and Kyiv fears Moscow plans to unleash a campaign of air strikes to cripple the power grid, plunging millions into darkness in the depths of winter.
“Just like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” Zaluzhny was quoted as saying in an interview published alongside his article.