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ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE Will Not "Sit in Blind Defense". Will Go On Opportunistic Offense, too. [1]

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Date: 2025-06-23

Are you feeling it like I am? This growing Ukrainian confidence which seems to say “it is a tough going but we got this”.

Perhaps this feeling didn’t come through to many people amidst all the Krasnovian noise this past weekend, What with the aftermath of the United States taking sides in the Iranian-Israeli war by dropping several “Mother of all Bombs” or GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bunker busters on Iranian nuclear sites. And Krasnov rather curtly telling Europe and other members of NATO that “they have to figure it out themselves”. In other words the United States, despite his own presence at the NATO summit, is now basically leaving the bulk of the work of protecting Europe(including Ukraine) to Europe. This came even as Mark Rutte, the current Secretary General of NATO quietly but forcefully pushed to get the other member countries to agree to Krasnov’s earlier demand that NATO member states should raise their defense budgets to 5% of GDP. They agreed to what he asked and he still wasn’t happy. But even as the preternaturally attention-starved Krasnov throws tantrums and cappers about clownishly and incoherently on the global geo-political stage, the world at large moves on.

Ukraine is certainly moving. The much vaunted Russian 2025 Summer Offensive which Putin and his minions trumpeted as the final massive blow to break Ukraine’s defenses, sweep their pesky army off the field and basically make all of Ukraine Russian again is now two months in from when General Syrskyi(Ukrainian CinC) announced that for all practical intents and purposes it had began. Pokvrovsk was going to be encircled, Kostyantynivka was going to fall in quick order. From there Russia was going to march on to take the rest of the major Northeastern Donetsk oblast industrial cities of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka. The Ukrainian “Fortress Belt” will be smashed under the inexorable march of Russian jack boots by the end of 2025. The Russians better hurry. September-October-November and the onset of bad fighting weather is only a handful of weeks away.

The Ukrainians ignored all that empty hyperbolic bravado from the Russians and set about, as hornets are wont to do, to strengthen their defensive lines. And what an intricate and labyrinthine works the Ukrainians have constructed. So far all the Russians have succeeded in doing is to send one assault group after another(both dismounted and mechanized) into that labyrinthine hornet’s nest in front of Kostyantynivka ... only to see them get smashed and destroyed in detail. This is even after the Russians have tried to soften up the Ukrainian defenses with incessant artillery bombardments and hundreds and hundreds of KAB/FAB glide bombs. This from just 4 days ago near Kostyantynivka:

I imagine many here on Kos who read annieli and quaoar’s posting may have already seen videos like this. But it is not just at Pokrovsk or Kostyantynivka. The Ukrainian elastic “bend but don’t break” defense has seemingly gotten the Russians tied up in knots all along the now 1,200 km battle trace(as Syrskyi indicated today). The Russians are getting stone walled in Sumy oblast as well and are being pushed back at places like Andriivka. The Russians have tried reinforcing their tenuous beach head across the Zherebets river to get at the city of Lyman in Donetsk, only to get their elongated logistics tail smashed, leaving their spearhead across the river vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks and encirclement. It is also happening to them in Kharkiv where Russian attempts to get to Kupiansk have been stalled. And yes, Ukraine is still holding on to Russian real estate, however small, in Kursk. They’re are dug in at advantageous defensive positions, and proving to be a tough nut for the 10,000 Russian/N Korean garrison in Kursk to crack, says Syrskyi:

Ukraine fighting 10,000 Russian troops in Kursk region, Ukrainian commander says Around 10,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in Russia's Kursk region, about 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of which is controlled by Ukraine, Ukraine's top military commander said. "We control about 90 square kilometers of territory in the Hlushkov district of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, and these are our preemptive actions in response to a possible enemy attack," Oleksandr Syrskyi said without elaborating, in remarks released by his office for publication on Sunday. www.reuters.com/...

And today, General Syrskyi also dropped this bit of news:

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has stated that Ukrainian forces will not stay locked in a defence-in-depth strategy but will instead combine defensive operations with offensive actions.(emphasis mine) "As for our plans and intentions. Of course, we will not merely stay locked in defence-in-depth mode. It brings nothing and ultimately leads to the fact that we are continuing to retreat, losing both personnel and territory. Therefore, we are combining defensive actions with active defence and active offensive operations. That means, wherever possible, we strike the enemy and conduct counterattacks. We advance where we identify weaknesses in the enemy’s defences."(emphasis mine) "We are talking about separate units – regiments that were created at the beginning of the Kursk operation (…) and, as of now, are actively fighting in all the challenging frontline areas. In areas where we have the opportunity to advance and also where the enemy has had success, it is necessary to halt and push them back from our settlements. As was the case in Sumy Oblast, in particular." www.pravda.com.ua/…

The recent Ukrainian stopping and then going on the attack to push back the Russian offensive in Sumy oblast is the proof of concept for this new Ukrainian tactical approach. But the concept and template was definitely launched and developed when the intrepid General Mykhailo Drapatyi took command of the Khortysia Strategic Operational Group at Pokrovsk. Not only were the Russians stopped at Pokrovsk but the Ukrainians have since gone on opportunistic counterattacks to liberate several nearby towns and villages like Udachyne and Kotlyne, while degrading Russia’s ability to keep up their logistics and denying them an effective platform to launch a pincer movement to the West of Pokrovsk. The Russians are now meaninglessly keeping up the pretense of such a pincer with futile attempts to enter nearby Dnipropetrovsk oblast. It is empty propaganda with no real military value. But the media bites on any such Russian announcements about Dnipropetrovsk every time. Without fail.

ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE may just teach Putin and the Russians what a lot of people in the American Middle West know … a wolverine, though much smaller in size to a bear, can more than hold its own in a no holds barred fight between the two. The smarter bears tend to run away from the wolverine or just leave the wolverine alone and not bother it Are you feeling Ukraine’s feistiness and emerging sense of confidence in their tussle with the supposed big bad ass Russian bear? I most certainly am. Block and parry. Then keep kicking ‘em where it hurts.

SLAVA UKRAINI ! PEREMOHA(Victory) !!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/23/2329578/-ADAPTIVE-INDOMITABLE-UKRAINE-Will-Not-Sit-in-Blind-Defense-Will-Go-On-Opportunistic-Offense-too?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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