Ukraine's Success Advancing On Foot Will Aid Offensive As Wet Fall Weather Arrives

Much of Ukraine's success in the counteroffensive has come as troops dismount from their armored vehicles and advance on foot. 

This tactic was originally undertaken to avoid Russian minefields but may now provide an added advantage as wet autumn weather - which could slow vehicles - will not be as much of a hindrance to troops already accustomed to attacking on foot. JL 

Tom Porter reports in Business Insider:

Worsening weather will not seriously impact Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia because it's not heavily reliant on vehicles. "The weather can be a serious obstacle during advance, but considering how we move forward, mostly without vehicles, I don't think [the weather] will heavily influence the counteroffensive." Ukraine has reverted to more familiar tactics, using precise artillery strikes and small units to make important gains, most significantly in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Worsening weather will likely not seriously impact Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia because it's not heavily reliant on vehicles, a Ukrainian general told CNN.

Ukraine's allies are concerned that worsening weather as winter approaches will significantly slow the progress of Ukrainian forces as they try to break through Russia's formidable defensive positions.

But Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who is leading Ukraine's counteroffensive on the pivotal front line in south Ukraine, recently told CNN he did not believe it'd be a major factor. 

"The weather can be a serious obstacle during advance, but considering how we move forward, mostly without vehicles, I don't think [the weather] will heavily influence the counteroffensive," Tarnavsky told the outlet.

 

The comments were made on September 22, and were re-published on October 1 in an analysis of Ukraine's looming winter tactics.

Tarnavsky said that Ukraine was using small groups of soldiers, operating mostly on foot, during the counteroffensive. 

In the early weeks of Ukraine's counteroffensive, analysts said that Ukraine was would likely rely on armoured vehicles, many supplied by its Western allies, to break through Russia's "Surovikin line" of multi-layered defenses.

NATO officials spent weeks training Ukrainian forces to use sophisticated maneuvers involving large units to achieve a breakthrough.

 

But as the offensive dragged on, Ukraine has reverted to more familiar tactics, using precise artillery strikes and small units to make incremental but important gains, most significantly in the Zaporizhzhia region. 

Tarnavsky told the BBC in July that armored vehicles were struggling to get through dense minefields and other obstacles. Instead, Ukrainian infantry units were attempting to clear Russian trenches in brutal close combat reminiscent of World War I.

A minimum criterion for the success of Ukraine's counteroffensive would be seizing back control of the town of Tokmak, which lies just behind the front line, Tarnavsky told CNN. 

"Tokmak is the minimum goal," he said. "The overall objective is to get to our state borders."