A New Strategy for Ukraine is Needed

Though, it would be helpful if it were not Putin's

Hello All,

There is one thing that almost everyone can agree upon and that is Ukraine needs a new strategy to win its war against Russia. The last year should have made it obvious, if it wasn’t already, that preparing Ukraine to launch direct, combined-arms assaults against fortified Russian lines is not the way ahead. Indeed, looking all over the battlefield during the last year, it should be clear to all but the most self-interested observer, that the relative strength of defensive firepower is so great, that to have any chance of a success, a combined arms offensive would have to find such a weak part of the line that the other side could not put up much resistance. Vehicles cannot be massed in enough numbers to allow for maneuver warfare—and that wont change unless one side weakens a great deal.

The chance of that on this battlefield is very small.

So the most important discussion that can be had now, is what should the strategy be for Ukrainian victory? It has become quite an intense political question in the US as well. Certainly there seems to be growing US pressure on Ukraine to come up with a new strategy—and this has involved both Congress and the administration.

Biden and Zelensky meeting yesterday

Right after President Zelensky’s visit to Capitol Hill yesterday, Speaker Johnson (who remains arguably the key person in unlocking aid) refused to say he would support more weaponry for Ukraine until he was presented with a 'strategy’ for Ukraine to win the war. You can watch his comments here.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/speaker-johnson-addresses-meeting-with-ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-200030277816

Johnson and Zelensky meeting yesterday—Johnson’s office released this still picture as they would not allow any live pictures of the two together (which reveals a great deal)

Now much of this statement is entirely disingenuous.