Russian mystery on the battlefield of Ukraine

Electronic warfare

On April 10, 2014, the US destroyer "Donald Cook" with cruise missiles "Tomahawk" entered the Black Sea. The purpose was to intimidate and demonstrate force regarding Russia's stance on Ukraine and Crimea.

In response, Russia sent Su-24 aircraft, unarmed but equipped with Russia's latest combat electronic complex called "Khibiny", to circle the US destroyer.

"Aegis" detected the approach of the air and raised the alarm. Everything was going normally, the American radar tracked the approaching target, when suddenly all the screens went black. "Aegis" did not work, the missiles did not receive information about the target. Meanwhile, the Russian Su-24 flew over the deck of the American destroyer, simulating a missile attack on the target, repeating the maneuver 12 times.

According to foreign media, after this incident, the "Donald Cook" urgently docked in Romania. 27 sailors submitted their resignations. All 27 wrote in their resignations that they did not want to risk their lives. The Pentagon's statement indirectly confirmed this when it argued that the Russian aircraft's actions had demoralized the American sailors.

No one believes that is true, because if so, Russia is invincible.

On January 29, the commander of US forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, admitted that the Ukrainian army is struggling to cope with artillery attacks and electronic jamming by separatist forces in the East of the country. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges said that the Ukrainian army's communication system is being hampered by electronic jamming equipment from the separatists and admitted: "It is very difficult for Ukrainian government forces to use radio waves, telephones and other means of communication because the separatists have superior jamming equipment.

So, the separatists used very precise guided weapons, causing heavy damage to the Kiev army, but on the contrary, the Kiev army was blind, firing without causing any damage to the separatists and sometimes straying into civilians. Is it true that the Kiev army uses the US GPS, while the eastern separatists use the Russian GLONASS?

Furthermore, Kiev always accuses Russia of sending troops and tanks rumbling across the border. Russia demands evidence, Kiev cannot provide it. But what about the US, with its extremely modern military satellites, but not even a single picture? Or is it true that Russia has not provided any aid to the separatists in terms of tanks, artillery… an extremely naive assertion?

Here, a few events with real results have made the Russian combatants confused about the cause. Obviously, on the Ukrainian battlefield, the Kiev army was officially completely electronically suppressed by the separatists, so it is not difficult to understand why the Ukrainian air force "stayed still".

As Russian Prime Minister Metveded said, "If you don't believe it, try it!", but when it's like that, no one will dare to try.

Eastern separatist army's battle strategy

If a good strategy is to deceive and control the enemy to use forces reasonably, economically and effectively; to apply bold and tricky fighting methods; to lead the combat situation to develop according to one's intentions; to create opportunities for decisive victory... then it can be said that the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield through the confrontation between the Kiev government army and the Eastern separatists seems to be similar to Vietnam's 1975 campaign in terms of strategy.

First of all, it must be affirmed that when comparing the forces of the two sides before February 18, 2015 (before the day of the attack on Kiev's Donetsk airport), the Kiev army, after a period of preparation during the ceasefire, was stronger than the separatists on the entire battlefield. The battle at Donetsk airport is likened to the Stalingrad battle of Ukraine in which the separatists won. Although it made the Kiev army's morale collapse, it was not a disaster, not a final blow.

The problem is how the separatists must create such a blow to force Kiev to sit at the negotiating table to end the war unconditionally or the total collapse… has been chosen by the separatist General Staff. That is Dabalsevo.

In terms of military geography, Dabalsevo blocks the entire vital traffic route from Donetsk to Lugansk. If Dabalsevo is liberated, the entire Donetsk and Lugansk regions will become one territory, and all of Kiev's forces will no longer have a foothold or a foothold to launch military operations to attack the East.

Geopolitically, Donetsk and Lugansk unification is just a matter of time and for now the unification of the combat contract between the two forces has occurred.

The current border of Donetsk and Lugansk (inner circle) with Dabalsevo (small red area) in the middle, 24 square kilometers wide, and the Donbass border area (outer red line) is the territory that the separatists need to capture.

To attack Dabalsevo, the Separatist General Staff had to use a trick to stretch Kiev's forces to two ends, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

In Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, which declared independence in April 2014 but failed. The possibility of a military attack by the separatists is impossible, but support for the separatist uprising is possible…which has made Kiev afraid and panic. Therefore, Kiev has sent in reserve troops and doubled the security forces, “changing the state from security to preemptive attack”…

In Mariupol, the separatists attacked for the first time and the attack stopped to sign a ceasefire agreement on September 5, 2014. It must be admitted that at this time, the Kiev army was defeated and forced to sign a ceasefire, but the separatists were not capable enough to attack and capture Mariupol because they were not well prepared in terms of logistics and technical facilities, and were not yet ripe enough in terms of opportunity...so they also had to sign a ceasefire agreement. Therefore, Mariupol is a big delicious bait that the separatists have not been able to swallow even though they really want it. Therefore, if possible, Mariupol will be the last piece in the Donbass puzzle of the eastern separatists, not sooner.

Compared to Mariupol, Dabalsevo is just a “deadly point” but Mariupol is a strategic position. Losing Dabalsevo, Kiev has given the position to the separatists, but losing Mariupol, Kiev has also given the separatists a huge force. Therefore, Kiev is very afraid of losing Mariupol and this is the basis for the Donetsk Military Ministry to exploit thoroughly to pull Kiev's strong force to Mariupol. Their plan was successful and 8,000 Kiev troops at the “boiler” Dabalsevo are in despair before the sudden attack of the separatists.

What is certain is that the Kiev government will sit down at the negotiating table only when Dabalsevo falls, if they do not want to lose Mariupol as well. Remember the Georgian event in 2008, when the French President, the mediator, told the Georgian President directly: "If you do not sign, in just 2 hours, you will hear the roar of Russian tanks in Tiblisi". And, the situation in Ukraine now is not different from Georgia in the past, except that it is not the Russian army.

According to Baodatviet.vn