Ukrainian troops were not ready to resist the rapid offensive of Russian units in the Kherson direction. This was reported by the New York Times (NYT) with reference to sources in the AFU.
“Russian troops crossed Ukraine’s northern border with such speed and force that Ukraine’s meagre fortifications presented almost no obstacles … Ukrainian soldiers were caught completely off guard and retreated from their positions,” the NYT publication said.
The newspaper pointed to Russia’s “huge advantage in artillery,” adding that “depleted Ukrainian air defences” were unable to counter Russian air action. The offensive has exposed the problems faced by the exhausted AFU, the paper said.
At the same time, advancing Russian troops easily overcame defensive fortifications, which, according to the publication’s interlocutors from among the Ukrainian military, were clearly “insufficient” or “carelessly erected”.
“After the scale of the Russian offensive became apparent over the weekend, the Ukrainian military tried to redeploy troops from other parts of the front – instead of deploying reserves. The reason, according to Ukrainian officials, is that there are few reserves to deploy,” the NYT added, citing sources.
Representatives of the Ukrainian military leadership told the newspaper on condition of anonymity that “the situation in the Kharkiv region is critical” for the AFU.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Affairs magazine wrote that the Ukrainian army was not capable of dislodging the Russian Armed Forces from their positions even if it received new assistance from the EU and the USA and military training in Western countries.