And therefore, that favors a sort of stagnation or a lack of offensive action in the open- big maneuvers around cities. “It just makes movements and maneuver more difficult. The spring thaw will turn frozen fields into quagmires. Ground conditions are changing rapidly along the front line. “So, it’s how you put the whole package together to achieve the combined arms breakthrough if that's what you're going to do,” Bury said. It's also about the artillery pieces - the rounds that they need for their own guns, and the new artillery pieces that are coming in, as well. It’s about the armored infantry fighting vehicles. “The question is, can Ukraine protect, use and concentrate the Western weapons to such an effect that they can break through better-prepared Russian lines? It’s not just about tanks. We can’t send our brave soldiers to the front line without tanks, artillery and long-range rockets.”īury said it’s crucial that the new weapons are deployed in a coordinated way. “We are waiting for ammunition to arrive from our partners," Zelenskyy said. In an interview with the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces need more Western weapons before launching any counteroffensive. If they’re all used together, you wouldn’t want to be an infantry solider in a foxhole facing 40 of these tanks if they’re used correctly,” Bury said. “A battalion or two can form a spearhead. But it's still fairly significant,” Bury told VOA in an interview March 30. At the moment, it’s probably not enough, would be my hunch. “How many are there now? Maybe between 30 or 40, given the numbers that were pledged. It’s unlikely Ukraine has enough Western tanks to launch a major counteroffensive imminently, said Patrick Bury, a military analyst at Britain’s University of Bath. They are doing a fine job, but the balance of forces is not in their favor,” Blejean added.įILE - Ukrainian and Polish soldiers sit on top of a German-made Leopard 2 tank during training at a military base and test range in Swietoszow, Poland, Feb.
At the present time, they are fighting for Bakhmut. “When they will be able to involve better tanks like the Leopard, they will be able to breach through and to look at counterattacking. Maybe not the best trained or best equipped combatants, but they are facing this kind of tsunami of soldiers, so they are holding the front line,” Vice Admiral Herve Blejean, commander of the European Union training mission for Ukrainian forces, told the Reuters news agency earlier in March. “Now, are in a kind of defensive position against more than 300,000 Russian combatants. Poland, Spain, Finland and the Netherlands have also pledged to send Leopard tanks, although the total numbers have not been confirmedĮuropean commanders say it could tip the balance in favor of the Ukrainian forces. Canada and Norway have also dispatched several of their Leopard 2 tanks. Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed Monday that Germany had already delivered 18 of its advanced Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, among the most highly regarded MBTs in the world.
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