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All opinions expressed are mine and are not representative of Miami’s Community Newspapers nor does it reflect their stances on the topics discussed below.
The Russo-Ukrainian War has been at a standstill for several months. The Russian winter had bogged down the flat plains of Eastern Ukraine and made it far too difficult for either side to stage a major offensive. When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last year, it did so with the intent of finishing Zelenskyy off before snow could ever become a problem. But, that wasn’t the case, and now, he intends to try again. The Spring thaw is coming and both Ukraine and Russia have major plans to strike the frontlines in the hopes of changing the current state of the war in their favor. Just one small problem, the war has developed into a largely defensive one, very akin to the trench warfare of the First World War, which means decisive victories are almost always denied. Layers upon layers of defenses stretching across hundreds of miles are bound to grind any offensive to a halt. With the roads frozen over for the winter, heavy vehicles are unable to maneuver through the battle zone and both sides are forced to settle in for a stalemate. Enter the US and NATO with their solution: tanks.
In World War I, trench warfare was king and the various nations involved in the conflict raced to find the solution. As it turns out, if you place soldiers in a heavily armored vehicle that protects them from gunfire and give them explosive shells that can puncture bunkers, that makes for a pretty good counter. With the coming of spring, these vehicles will allow Ukrainian ground troops to puncture weak points in the Russian frontlines and threaten to get behind its soldiers like it did in mid-2022. There’s just one problem, the West waited too long.
Putin has been threatening the use of nukes since the start of the war and it comes at no surprise that when Western allies mull over sending tanks to Ukraine, Putin raises the alarm once more. This saber-rattling from Putin has begun to lose its effectiveness but the job was done. Ukraine most likely needed these tanks in the Fall of 2022 so that it could train its soldiers ahead of this Spring. American and European tanks are not easy to use and their modern systems are among the most advanced in the world. Because of this, and the logistics of getting them to Ukraine in the first place, these tanks are said to arrive anywhere between the coming weeks to the coming months. Once they do get there, however, Russia is in serious trouble.
The way the Russians organize their military is not suited for rapid warfare. It has a centralized command structure, meaning if a squad of soldiers wanted to advance on a hill, it needed to ask permission from their commanding officer who sent this request to his commanding officer and so on. By the time the approval can even reach the squad of soldiers, they have already been gunned down by the Ukrainians. Literally.
At the start of the war, Russia covertly dropped their most elite troops into Kyiv to capture and destroy key infrastructure around the city’s main airport in order to keep Ukrainian jets from supporting the city’s defenders from the air. The Russian tanks took so long to get to the capital, that by the time they arrived, the troops were killed or captured. In another show of gross logistic incompetence, the Russians attempted to make a river cross in the middle of an offensive that was quickly shut down by Ukrainian artillery thanks largely to American intelligence. What happened next? The Russians tried to cross at the same exact spot two more times because the order they were given was precisely that. Cross here and nowhere else. It wasn’t until two battalions were destroyed before Russian commanders began to rethink their strategy. Loss of life was said to be as high as 1,500.
Yet, despite the slow moving Russian behemoth, they’ve managed to survive precisely because the Ukrainians did not have the equipment to capitalize on their mistakes. That is now changing. Confidence in the Ukrainian military continues to rise in the West and the military aid being sent Zelenskyy’s way continues to grow. Should the Ukrainians get these tanks combat ready before summer, this war could be all but wrapped up for Putin, who’s military command has effectively fumbled since the very beginning.
Andres Pena is a Pinecrest resident and graduate of New York University with degrees in both English and American Literature and Political Science. He works for Miami’s Community News as both a writer and administrative assistant. For more inquiries on US and Global News, contact andres@communitynewspapers.com or call 305-951-6726.
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