16:42 23-04-2026

Svitan: Russia Forcing Ukraine to Use Strategic Reserves

Roman Svitan says Russian forces are using diversion tactics to stretch Ukrainian troops and force deployment of strategic reserves.

Retired Ukrainian Air Force colonel Roman Svitan stated that Russian forces are stretching Ukrainian troops across secondary directions, forcing the command to commit strategic reserves.

He disagreed with claims from Kiev that Russian activity in the Sumy region is aimed at creating a buffer zone. According to him, Russia’s main objectives remain Donbass and the expansion of the land corridor to Crimea, while operations in other areas serve as a diversion.

Svitan said this tactic is intended to push Ukrainian command into redeploying forces from key направления. He referred to last year’s situation, when troops were withdrawn from the Pokrovsk direction and moved toward Sumy, after which Russian forces took control of Pokrovsk and Mirnograd. He noted that a similar scenario may be unfolding again.

According to him, Ukraine still has strategic reserves of roughly two to three corps, and deploying them to secondary fronts could have serious consequences.

He concluded that such actions reflect classic military strategy aimed at forcing the opponent to prematurely commit strategic reserves.