Ukraine and the West are preparing for a war that could last several months or even years, as more military aid arrives in the country and Ukrainian soldiers are trained in handling. new weapons to fight better and longer in the attacks of Russia.

“Of course, all Ukrainians want to win in the near future, and we do not want to think about a long -term scenario that could take many years. Unfortunately, world experience shows that there are some wars that have ended in a few weeks or months, “he said. Ukraine’s chief negotiator David Arahamiya.

He explained that the Institute for Strategic Studies is currently working on all the scenarios for the duration of the war and plans are being prepared to adapt them to different possibilities.

Months or years under bombs

More and more voices, including in the West, believe that the war will last or become another long-stalled conflict, as happened during the eight years of armed conflict between the Ukrainian Army and pro-Russian militia in the Donbas. .

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said the war could last “months and possibly years”.

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden asked his country’s Congress for 33 billion dollars in additional aid for Ukraine, of which more than 20 billion would be military aid to defend itself from Russia, given the possibility of a protracted war.

A senior White House official said U.S. aid should be enough for “the next five months of this war.”

slow forward

And it is that on the ground, Russia has progressed slowly with its goal of taking all of the Donbas and southern Ukraine to create the desired land corridor between the east and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

there is Russia changed tactics after the failure of its offensive in the north and northeast of the country, by the intense use of artillery throughout the front line against Ukrainian positions to prevent the reunification of Ukrainian troops and protect the lines of its supply and communication.

Russian forces have made some tactical victories in Donetsk and Lugansk, but progress has been “limited” west of Severodonetsk to the Lugansk region and remain stagnant south of Izium, in Kharkov, its report today indicated the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia has not yet surrounded Ukrainian troops as they try to descend from Izium east, southeast and southwest through Liman, Sloviansk and Barvinkove to Kramatorsk, the main military base of the Ukrainian Army in Donetsk.

They also failed to make a pincer from the south, despite sending forces from Mariupol, which Russia considered in control except on the suspicion of the resistance that remained at the Azovstal steel mill.

British intelligence indicated Saturday that Russia still has it tactical coordination problems.

A senior Pentagon official said Friday that Moscow wants it to move “more” at this point in the armed conflict.

“They’re behind the calendar” established, he said.

“We certainly believe that the conditions are set for a longer confrontation in the Donbas,” he said, given both sides familiarity with the terrain, distant fires and a tendency to use mechanized maneuvers.

Training in the use of a complex arsenal

All this gives Ukraine some time for its soldiers to become familiar with the use of new weapons that come from different Western countries.

But not too long. “Russian troops are gradually increasing the intensity of their offensive in the east in all directions,” Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on Saturday.

U.S. Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby announced on Friday that his country has begun training the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the use of U.S. weapons at three locations outside Ukraine, including Germany.

Currently, the second class of about 50 soldiers are participating in the training of the M777 Howitzer 155-millimeter howitzer, the other soldiers in the group of 20 have learned to operate the M113 troop transport vehicle and 75 are trained in the use of mobile radar. system Q -64.

According to senior U.S. officials, just over 60% of the 90 Howitzers are already in Ukraine and 155-millimeter artillery ammunition continues to arrive in that country.

In the next few hours there will be more than a dozen flights from the United States with Howitzers, more 155mm ammunition, several Phoenix Ghost tactical drones and radar.

On the last day there was nearly 20 flights from seven different countries with military supplies for Ukraine, according to the Pentagon.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia does not consider it to be at war with NATO in Ukraine, but the Alliance seems to be, among other things for sending weapons to that country.

Any supply of weapons on the territory of Ukraine is a “legitimate goal” of the Russian Army, he again warned.

That is why Russia is aggressively attacking Ukrainian arms and ammunition depots. In the last few hours, it broke a mark of rocket, artillery and ammunition, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Source: EFE