General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, has said that Russia does not have the numerical superiority to make a strategic breakthrough in the Kharkiv region.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday evening, NATO’s top commander said: “No, the Russians don’t have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough. More to the point, they don’t have the skill and the capability to do it, to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to strategic advantage.”
Cavoli conceded that smaller-scale Russian victories could be expected. “They do have the ability to make local advances, and they have done some of that, (but) they’ve also made some local losses.”
Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO’s military committee, credited Russia for expanding its industrial capacity. Yet whilst their production had successfully adjusted to a war footing, Bauer said that this was offset by declining military skill.
“The industrial capacity [of Russia] is a change that we see, here they are actually moving forward faster than we are in Europe and in North America,” he said. “There are a number of things that they have improved, but also there’s a number of things that they haven’t improved.”
Continuing, he added: “If you look at the quality of the troops, they still have a big problem in making sure that the new troops are trained to a level that is actually better than the troops that were originally available. So they now have more troops, but the quality is lower than the troops they started the conflict with.”
Cavoli emphasized that Ukraine would soon benefit from the arrival of U.S. military aid. “What equipment do the Ukrainians need? What could help? Exactly what they’re getting right now,” he said. “They’re being shipped vast amounts of ammunition, vast amounts of short-range air defense systems and significant amounts of armored vehicles right now.”
The opening of a new front in the north-east has left Ukrainian forces stretched and resulted in several Russian gains. However, Cavoli stated he had full faith that Ukraine would not buckle. “I’m in very close contacts with our Ukrainian colleagues, and I’m confident that they will hold the line.”
Cavoli conceded that smaller-scale Russian victories could be expected. “They do have the ability to make local advances, and they have done some of that, (but) they’ve also made some local losses.”
Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO’s military committee, credited Russia for expanding its industrial capacity. Yet whilst their production had successfully adjusted to a war footing, Bauer said that this was offset by declining military skill.
“The industrial capacity [of Russia] is a change that we see, here they are actually moving forward faster than we are in Europe and in North America,” he said. “There are a number of things that they have improved, but also there’s a number of things that they haven’t improved.”
Continuing, he added: “If you look at the quality of the troops, they still have a big problem in making sure that the new troops are trained to a level that is actually better than the troops that were originally available. So they now have more troops, but the quality is lower than the troops they started the conflict with.”
Cavoli emphasized that Ukraine would soon benefit from the arrival of U.S. military aid. “What equipment do the Ukrainians need? What could help? Exactly what they’re getting right now,” he said. “They’re being shipped vast amounts of ammunition, vast amounts of short-range air defense systems and significant amounts of armored vehicles right now.”
The opening of a new front in the north-east has left Ukrainian forces stretched and resulted in several Russian gains. However, Cavoli stated he had full faith that Ukraine would not buckle. “I’m in very close contacts with our Ukrainian colleagues, and I’m confident that they will hold the line.”
Source: Reuters
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