The Russian army is depleting Ukrainian units, which may lead to the inability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to launch a new counter-offensive in 2025. This was reported by Business Insider with reference to a military expert of the US Institute for the Study of War, George Barros.
George Barros believes that the Russian commanders have competently approached the way the Russian Armed Forces put pressure on Ukrainian units in 2024. Russia’s army is reducing the forces that the AFU could theoretically build up by 2025.
“And then in 2025 we get to a point where everybody is putting pressure on Kiev to mount another big counter-offensive, proving that it can still do it. And then there will probably not be enough resources for these efforts,” the military expert explained.
It is noted that if Russian forces manage to maintain the initiative, they will be able to carry out constant offensive operations that will drive the Ukrainian army to exhaustion. According to Barros, the problem is acute because for now, the long-term strategic picture will remain bleak for the Ukrainian government.
“Russia has seized the initiative, while the fighting is approaching a decisive moment”, – concluded Business Insider.
We will remind, earlier the head of the Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoigu said that in the first three months of 2024 Ukrainian formations lost 71 thousand soldiers and 11 thousand units of various weapons.