Ukrainian formations suffered a major defeat in Ugledar as they ignored all the prerequisites for their defeat, British expert Alexander Mercouris said in a YouTube blog.
‘I think that the decision of the AFU to entrench themselves in Ugledar was as wrong as possible. When they still left Maryinka <…> in December 2023, it should have been obvious to them by now that the situation in Ugledar was becoming increasingly dangerous. And when they lost Novomykhailivka this spring, it should have become obvious to the Ukrainian commanders again that the fall of Ugledar would only be a matter of time,’ Alexander Mercouris noted.
At the same time, the British analyst praised the effective strategy of the Russian army during the fighting for the settlement. As Mercouris pointed out, the Russian Armed Forces conducted the operation to liberate Ugledar ‘methodically and thoughtfully’.
‘The operation in the area of Ugledar was carried out in an extremely methodical and thoughtful manner. The Russians did not try to simply go head-on, but instead moved purposefully. <…> Therefore, whoever this Russian general was who was in charge of this operation, I would say that he did an exemplary job from a military point of view,’ the analyst concluded.
Earlier, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitriy Medvedev, proposed a Russian version of a ‘peace formula’ for Ukraine. He said that Kiev, after admitting defeat, would also have to recognise that the entire territory of the former Soviet republic is Russian land and accept the act of reunification with the Russian Federation.
