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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/throwawayforeurope on 2024-07-04 14:38:49+00:00.
Ukraine war: Russia's 'meat assaults' batter Ukraine's defences
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80xjne8ryxo
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Some of those in the assaults are former prisoners, but Russia is also able to recruit through making one-off payments, sometimes thousands of dollars.And there have been complaints from the Russian side about “crippled regiments”, in which wounded soldiers are forced back into fighting.
One video shows dozens of men, some on crutches, appealing to their commanders because they say they are wounded and require hospital treatment, but instead are being sent back into combat.All of this, Western officials say, means Moscow can keep throwing soldiers, even if poorly trained, straight on to the front lines at the same rate they are being killed or wounded.Ukraine could not match the Russian tactics even if it had the numbers, partly due to a different attitude towards casualties.
One senior official complains they are receiving enough help to ensure they do not lose but not enough to make sure they win.Western officials acknowledge 2024 has been a tough year for Ukraine, with delays in the arrival of US military aid creating a major strain on defences which has cost territory and lives.“It seems like a so-called incremental approach,” Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told the BBC.“We receive little by little, and I get the impression that our Western allies give a little bit of weaponry, and they see what happens next, as if they’re afraid of what they refer to as escalation.”The lifting of restrictions on using US weapons over the border into Russia has made a difference and helped stall Moscow’s assault on Kharkiv.“If we have to fight with our hands tied behind our back, you know we’ll be only bleeding to death,” says Mr Merezhko.
But a Ukrainian official said the use of longer range strikes into Russia had only been a palliative and was not fundamentally altering the dynamic of the war.“We are driving towards stalemate,” former security service officer Ivan Stupak says, acknowledging that this may lead eventually to the “bitter pill” of some form of negotiation.During a visit to Kyiv this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested a ceasefire first to hasten negotiations, a position that officials in Kyiv are wary of.“We [are] not ready to go to the compromise for the very important things and values,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, told reporters in Washington.
Ukrainians fear without hard security guarantees - such as Nato membership, rather than vague talk of a bridge to such status - Russia may simply regroup and attack again in the future.Vladimir Putin is counting on wearing down Ukraine on the battlefield and outlasting the West’s resolve to provide support.
As well as launching guided aerial bombs against frontline positions and civilians in Kharkiv, Moscow has also targeted energy infrastructure across the country, leading to increasingly frequent power blackouts and concerns over what winter might bring.November’s US election adds another layer of uncertainty, along with a question mark as to whether the European Union could realistically pick up any slack.For Lt Col Anton Bayev on the frontline near Kharkiv, the ability to strike into Russia may have been vital, but he now sees his enemy adapting its tactics - and not just with “meat assaults”.His losses now come from mortars and glide bombs, while his Ukrainian forces remain short of ammunition.“We need everything, and there is always a lack,” he says.“The boys are holding on.
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