Estonian intelligence chief: Ukrainian troops are close to major success at the front
The actions of the Ukrainian troops during the counteroffensive and signs of difficulties experienced by the Russians suggest that soon the Ukrainian Armed Forces can deliver a major success at the front, said the Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center, Colonel Margo Grosberg.
Grosberg spoke about the tactics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to destroy the command posts and logistics centers of Russian troops with pinpoint strikes, about successes near Bakhmut and what the Russian general [Ivan Popov] said, which indicates that the Russian reserves are depleted.
"All of this suggests that Ukrainians are close to major success," Grosberg said.
The preparatory offensive operations that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now conducting are aimed at pinning down Russian units in narrow areas and finding weaknesses for a breakthrough. For the same purpose, important transport hubs, logistics points and command and control centers of the Russian army in the rear are being attacked, the colonel explained.
He also said that Ukrainian units near Bakhmut managed to capture key areas of north and south of the city, which makes it possible to conduct artillery shelling of the Russian positions inside the city and control the roads leading to it. This, according to Grosberg, complicates the supply of Russian units located there.
In addition, the fact that the Russian airborne troops stationed in Bakhmut since spring are tied up in the city, suffer losses and cannot be redeployed to a different place or withdrawn, has a great impact. Given that the Airborne Forces are an elite Russian unit whose fighters have high morale, such attrition tactics certainly affect their motivation. "At some point, this should lead to a bigger success," says Grosberg.
According to the head of Estonian intelligence, on the southern front, in the area of Zaporizhzhia and Velyka Novoselivka, Ukrainian units have increased the area under their control and are destroying key facilities with pinpoint strikes. He highlighted the attack on a hotel in Berdyansk that killed the deputy commander of the Southern Military District, Russian Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, this week.
Grosberg also drew attention to the dismissal of Russian General Ivan Popov.
"All this suggests that the reserves of the Russian Federation are running out, since the units are not rotated," he stated.
The colonel also noted that in the northeast, in the Svatove and Kupyansk directions, Russian troops, although they inflicted the largest number of strikes and achieved some success, are still far from a tactical breakthrough. The purpose of the pressure there is to force Ukraine to transfer troops from near Bakhmut and other places where they have succeeded, Grosberg explained.