MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) -Due to the Kiev military leadership’s operational failures and the keen defensive strategy of independence supporters, the latter may seize control over the city of Mariupol in the coming days, but only have the strength to continue the advance for another week, a Russian expert on geopolitics told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
“The offensive potential of the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics’ armies is not limitless. By my estimates, this may last for another five days or a week and then they will need to regroup, to ensure they can rebuild their [offensive] potential. I suppose, the main goal of the independence supporters’ forces is to burst to the Sea of Azov and take Mariupol, and, I think, this will be done in the coming days. And then, apparently, an operational pause will follow,” the Russian National Geopolitical Academy President Konstantin Sivkov said.
According to the expert, Kiev forces often suffer defeats due to the poor operational skills of the Ukrainian Army’s leadership.
“If an adversary, even one with superior forces, is exhausted and its resources are drained, it can be defeated,” Sivkov noted, adding that a classic approach is to tire out an enemy with defensive tactics when it attempts to advance, followed by a counterattack and defeat. “A classic example is the Battle of Kursk,” the expert explained.
On August 18-20 southeastern Ukraine witnessed fierce fighting, as Kiev forces sought to rout independence supporters and seize control of the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk by Ukraine’s Independence Day. However, due to the militia’s “firm positional defense,” they were able to defeat the Kiev forces, Sivkov said.
The eastern Ukrainian cities of Luhansk and Donetsk have been in the center of fierce fighting since the launch of Kiev’s military operation in April. On August 24, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, announced that his forces had launched a counterattack.
