Ukraine Copies Russia's 'Active Defense' Tactic

 

moon of alabama

Since September 2023 the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin have multiple times commented on the operation of Russian forces in Ukraine. They described the disposition of Russian troops in Ukraine as 'active defense'.

• Shoigu says Russians engaged in ‘active defense’ in Ukraine: No option but to win - Al Arabia, Sept 13 2023
• "They are facing our active defense": Shoigu announced the improvement of the tactical position of the Russian Armed Forces in the NVO zone - Tellerreport, Oct 17 2023
• Ukraine updates: Russia making frontline gains, Putin claims - DW, Oct 15, 2023
  Putin called Russia's Ukraine offensive "an active defense."

The U.S. Defense Department defines active defense as:

The employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy. See also passive defense.

I would add that the elimination of enemy salients and the general straightening of local defense lines is part of an active defense.

Russia has used this from of combat all over the frontline. Attacks have been small to gain limited ground, better positions or heights. Most of the time an active defense force will concentrate on the elimination of any local enemy offense and general enemy capabilities.

Russia has done well with this tactic because it allowed to destroy a huge number of Ukrainian forces who attempted to attack Russian positions again and again. In December, months after Putin and Shoigu had spoken about active defense, the neoconservative Institute for the Study of War declared that it was subterfuge:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu continues to falsely characterize Russian offensive efforts in Ukraine as part of an “active defense” in an effort to temper expectations about the Russian military’s ability to achieve operationally significant objectives. Shoigu stated on December 1 during a conference call with Russian military leadership that Russian forces are conducting an “active defense” in Ukraine and are capturing more advantageous positions in every operational direction.
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Shoigu and Putin both previously called Russian offensive operations to capture Avdiivka an "active defense” following the failure of the first Russian mechanized push to achieve significant tactical gains in early October 2023. Russian forces launched two subsequent large-scale pushes to capture Avdiivka since early October 2023 and continue a high tempo of attritional infantry assaults around the settlement. Russian officials’ characterization of these offensives as being part of an "active defense” are intentionally misleading. Ukrainian forces have never conducted offensive operations at scale in the Avdiivka area since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Avdiivka has been a famously static Ukrainian defensive position since 2014. Russian leadership has nevertheless continued to falsely frame operations around Avdiivka as an ”active defense” likely to recontextualize the lack of any major Russian progress around Avdivka despite over two months of large-scale Russian attacks there.

ISW contradicts the DoD definition which includes 'limited offensive action' into active defense operations.

On January 4 2024 the NATO lobby organization Atlantic Council urged the Ukrainian army to copy the successful Russia's disposition.

• To defeat Putin in a long war, Ukraine must switch to active defense in 2024 - Atlantic Council, Jan 4 2024

Ukraine’s military strategy for 2024 should focus on holding the front line and ensuring continued control over the approximately 82% of the country that remains in Ukrainian hands. A strategic shift to active defense would play to Ukraine’s current strengths while buying valuable time to regroup and rearm ahead of what are likely to be more advantageous conditions in 2025.

Crucially, a more defensive posture would allow Ukraine to exploit Moscow’s pressing need for victories. With the Russian army under huge political pressure to advance, Ukrainian commanders would have plenty of opportunities to steadily bleed out Putin’s invasion force, much as they are currently doing at Avdiivka.

A few days later the Ukrainian command claimed to have implemented the NATO order:

• Ukraine Ground Commander Says His Troops, Now on 'Active Defence', Can Still Surprise - US News, Jan 15 2024

In an interview late last week, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi - a key figure in Kyiv's response to Russia's full-scale invasion - underlined the shifting realities on the battlefield that have tempered hopes of a major Ukrainian breakthrough.
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"Our goals remain unchanged: holding our positions ... exhausting the enemy by inflicting maximum losses," Syrskyi, Ukraine's number two commander, told Reuters.
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Ukrainian troops, for their part, are staging smaller counter-attacks in what Syrskyi described as "active defence": keeping the enemy on its toes by seeking opportunities to strike while they look to regain the initiative.

Engagements on both sides are on a smaller scale to conserve ammunition and men, he added, suggesting Russia has also learned to react and stem losses.

"Offensives at the level of a battalion are a major rarity," said Syrskyi, adding that wider use of drones has forced the change in tactic.

Ukraine says it does not have enough ammunition to sustain the desired level of attacks, and has urged Western partners to do more to supply it.

One wonder how long it will take for ISW to characterize the new Ukrainian tactic as 'an effort to temper expectations about the Ukrainian military’s ability to achieve operationally significant objectives'.

The Russian army, which does not lack artillery ammunition, can use the new defensive disposition of the Ukrainian forces to make more gains.

These will likely come in the form of small pushes all along the combat line because NATO's electronic and satellite reconnaissance as well as drone attacks make larger concentration of forces nearly impossible.

The success will be slow until some larger parts of the Ukrainian defense line crumble under continues attacks and allow for a bigger push into the depth of the enemy lines.

Posted by b on January 17, 2024 at 12:42 UTC | Permalink

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