Indirect fire is the main cause of casualties in Ukraine where the situation remains arduous, Col. Eero Rebo, head of the Defense League Headquarters, told Vikerraadio.
“The situation on the front is difficult and intense. One indicator of the latter is the sides’ ability to fire shells. Artillery fire is responsible for the majority of losses. The Ukrainians estimate that for every shell they fire, Russia fires six,” Rebo said.
“The Ukrainians have taught their enemy to fight. Experience is helping Putin’s side avoid major losses and make fewer mistakes, while, luckily, it is not preventing them altogether. But we can also see that the Russians have joined the Ukrainians in playing the game of drones,” the colonel remarked.
Rebo said that there are plenty of people in Russia willing to fight in Ukraine for money. “Looking beyond Moscow, St Peterburg and Kazan, the salary on offer, which would probably not impress Estonians, constitutes a real alternative. People take the offer and go shed their blood in Ukraine. But most of them are in for a tragic fate, looking at Russia’s casualties both in terms of dead and wounded. But the promise of material gains still appeals to men,” the colonel said.
Rebo also said that prisoners are still being used in the war. “It just fails to make the news these days, as inmates who went to Ukraine in their tens of thousands mostly perished at Bucha.
He said that processes for Ukraine aid have gotten stuck in Western democracies. Ukraine needs both anti-air missiles and spare parts for machinery already supplied.
Rebo said that Russia is capable of producing more war machines and has huge stockpiles of Soviet-era machinery which it can modernize. It also uses other countries’ technology – Iranian drones and North Korean artillery shells.
“The Russian economy has been very flexible and capable of finding loopholes in the sanctions. It shows determination to get the Ukrainian thing done. We must also keep in mind that for the home audience in Russia, the war is not with Ukraine and is instead a much broader confrontation with the West, which started before the war did,” Rebo added.
The colonel said that surrender is a non-option for the Ukrainians as they’ve seen how captured soldiers and Ukrainian civilians are treated.
“They will not take a step back even in the face of overwhelming odds. They needed to be ordered to pull back at Avdiivka. We can see attempts to blow up Ukraine’s losses or how many people have been taken prisoner. This media ruckus the Putin regime is forced to put on suggests the real figures were more modest and the Ukrainians were successful in making the Russians pay a heavy price.”
Eero Rebo said that what Ukraine will do next depends on the weather and how much aid other countries send it.
“The Ukrainians are sure to keep up hitting the enemy’s infrastructure and important military targets. Early warning and control aircraft shot down, ships sunk and various logistics hubs hit all work to shape the situation,” Rebo continued.
“The Ukrainians have also sent a clear message to civilians in Crimea – do not use the Crimean Bridge.”
Rebo described Russia’s air losses in the battle for Avdiivka as exceptional. “Putin’s generals were going for the bank. And they took a bigger risk by moving the air force closer. Coordination of ground-air plans is another area where our eastern neighbor has a lot to learn. It seems something went wrong there, as such air losses really are rare,” the colonel commented.
“The Ukrainian soldier remains in the trench and the Ukrainian society remains behind them. Also here in Estonia, we still find material support we can give to Ukraine, in addition to warm words. A large part of what we can do is the Ukrainian women and children we have welcomed, living with whom we keep waiting for a victory and outcome that would be acceptable for the Ukrainians,” Rebo said.
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