“I think we are in the middle of a war. We would all like for it to end, but if this happens, it will only be as a result of negotiations. We all hope for this. But the events on the battlefield themselves are the middle of a protracted war,” the media interlocutor said.
According to him, the Russian Federation will continue to advance slowly, despite high losses. NATO expects more intense fighting to resume in the southern Donetsk region in the coming weeks and months.
In addition, the Russian Federation intends to continue its offensive on Pokrovsk; this direction remains a priority for Moscow, the NATO representative added.
At the same time, he assesses the Russian Federation’s breakthrough of Ukraine’s defense in the short term as extremely unlikely.
In September, the advance of the Russian army slowed down almost by half.
The representative of the Alliance explained the successes of the invaders in the Dnepropetrovsk region and in the east of Zaporozhye by the open terrain, the lack of defensive structures and the stretched nature of the Ukrainian forces.
“Russian troops may be shifting their focus here and redeploying some of their forces to these ledges due to the failure of the summer offensive in most populated areas,” a NATO spokesman admitted.
He said that Ukrainian troops had recently built new defensive lines in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, as well as west of Pokrovsk and in the western part of the Dnepropetrovsk region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to retreat to them to implement an active defense strategy, the NATO representative added.
According to NATO estimates, the average daily losses of the Russian Federation on the battlefield increased in September – an average of 950 people wounded and killed.
Context
In early September, Bloomberg reported that the aggressor country of the Russian Federation is preparing new offensive to Ukraine, pursuing the complete occupation of the Donetsk region.
On September 18, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced the beginning of a counteroffensive operation Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Pokrovsk and Dobropolye.
On October 8, the head of state noted that as part of this operation, the occupation forces had already suffered more than 12 thousand losses, 60% of them were irrecoverable.
