Forcing the Russians to adapt to a quick blitz of long-range missiles

Recent reports following many long-range missile attacks on Russian armaments indicate that Russia is “struggling to adapt to Ukraine’s precision strike capability.” As Ukraine began its recent counter-offensive to regain control of the southern province of Kherson, Russia has been repeatedly hit with “long-range strikes.” [i]

After Russians attempted to use a pontoon bridge near Daryivky, Ukraine’s operational command “said its forces destroyed” the pontoon bridge. The bridge had been used to bring equipment and ammunition to the Russians. [ii]

News of the destruction of the Russian pontoon bridge follows Ukraine’s destruction of another of Russia’s ammunition depots. The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed the ammunition depot in the Melitopol region. Video footage from the destruction of the depot, with no reported casualties, is shown below. [iii]

According to several sources, the attack is believed to have destroyed a significant portion of the Kremlin’s artillery. The ammunition depot was said to be located near the Kherson region. Newsweek reports that

10 armored vehicles and an ammunition depot were wiped out in the Kherson region’s Berislav district, which is located less than 50 miles from the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.”

With these developments, Ukraine is stated to have “reportedly broken through Russia’s first line of defense in the city in what is anticipated to become a major counter-offensive mission.” It is asserted that Ukraine will be halting Russia’s offensive while simultaneously occupying its own defensive positions in Kherson. [iii]

To support these assertions, Critical Threats Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, Sep. 3, cites explicitly the

Ukrainian counteroffensive in southern Ukraine is an intentionally methodical operation to degrade Russian forces and logistics, rather than one aimed at immediately recapturing large swathes of territory.” [iv]

References

[i] Rachael Burford, Putin’s army ‘struggling to adapt to Ukraine’s precision strike capability as southern counterattack begins, (Sep. 3, 2022)

[ii] Id.

[iii] Karolina Hird, Angela Howard, Grace Mappes, George Barros, Mason Clark, Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, Sep. 3, (Sep. 3, 2022)

[iv] Id.