Butusov warns against the temptation of quick victories at the front

Ukrainian authorities should refrain from the temptation of quick victories, instead giving preference to careful planning and implementing the practice of post-operational analysis, which is available in NATO countries, said journalist Yuriy Butusov.

"The situation at the front sometimes causes some influential people to believe that Russian troops are completely demoralized, that they just need to be pushed and the enemy will fall. Therefore, we need, first of all, speed of decisions, so they even announce specific terms of victories in specific areas of the front," Butusov writes.

However, if you look at the map of our battles, listen to the interviews of our heroes, interrogations of prisoners, it becomes obvious that the reasons for the Ukrainian victories were not due to the weakness and panic of the Russians, but to complex decisions on our part.

a) Ukrainian high command acted suddenly for the enemy, created an advantage in critical areas of the front, and trusted the unit commanders to act independently within the plan;

b) Ukrainian brigades and combatants in battle outplayed the enemy tactically, acted proactively, intellectually flexible, and took responsibility for the result;

c) Ukrainian soldiers had high-quality commanders of the squad-company level on the battlefield, had freedom of maneuver and well-developed interaction, which allowed them to perform tasks even despite significant losses;

d) our troops were well aware of the situation, most of the enemy's firepower was detected, which allowed either to destroy the enemy or to calculate the maneuver correctly;

e) means of destruction sufficient to destroy or suppress nodal centers of resistance, command posts and logistics centers were concentrated in the area of attack.

"How to name all these factors together? The combat capability of the troops. I would give the following definition: Combat capability is the advantage of troops in the speed of decisions and effectiveness of actions in a certain area at a certain time, which is achieved in all links through training, support and application in accordance with the conditions of combat," the journalist adds.

Haste without planning, careful preparation and analysis of the situation, ignoring the opinion of commanders has already led to the defeat of the Russian army, Butusov reminds. Achieving superiority in combat capability during a battle is a complex joint work of all commanders, not just one.

"We have to outplay the enemy intellectually, and "banzai attacks" and "heroic raids", which are planned on the assumption that the enemy will be frightened, abandon weapons and is not capable of any countermeasures in advance, are the way to repeat Russian defeats. The way to victory is the way of analysis and drawing the right conclusions from one's own actions," the journalist emphasizes.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 26/10/2022