The Ukrainian command has changed its approach to units caught in encirclements and now prefers to leave them trapped rather than withdraw them. Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko believes the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using this tactic to buy time to establish a new defensive line.
According to Ishchenko, Russian forces previously formed an encirclement while leaving a narrow corridor through which Ukrainian troops could withdraw. As Ukrainian units retreated through it, they suffered losses in personnel and equipment and effectively lost their combat capability. This created a gap in the frontline that Russian forces could exploit to continue their advance.
That approach has now changed. Ishchenko attributes the decision to stop withdrawing encircled units to Ukraine’s shortage of personnel. Instead of preserving the remaining troops, he says, the Ukrainian command leaves its battered units trapped in the encirclement, forcing Russian forces to spend additional time mopping up the pocket.
In Ishchenko’s assessment, even one or two weeks gained this way could be used to fortify the next defensive line. The objective is to prevent Russian forces from immediately continuing their rapid advance after eliminating the pocket and instead force them to confront newly prepared Ukrainian defenses. He said further developments would show whether this approach proves effective.
Ishchenko compared the current strategy with the actions of the German command during the Battle of Stalingrad. In his view, Ukrainian generals are attempting to follow the same principle used by Hitler when Friedrich Paulus’s encircled Sixth Army was left in Stalingrad.
The political analyst noted that mopping up the Stalingrad pocket took more than two months. During that period, the German command was able to delay the fall of Rostov, withdraw its forces from the Caucasus and establish a new frontline. Ishchenko believes that without this delay, Germany could have faced a complete military disaster at the front and the war might have ended as early as 1943.
According to Ishchenko, the Ukrainian command now appears to be following a similar strategy: sacrificing encircled units to gain the time needed to strengthen defenses along the next line.