Russian Forces Can't Understand Realities In Ukraine War, Claims Think Tank

Russian forces continue to prioritize "meaningless" offensives in Ukraine's east instead of focusing on defending against Ukrainian's advancing counteroffensives in the eastern Kharkiv region, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a leading think tank based in Washington, D.C., Khaleda Rahman reported for Newsweek.

Photo Insert: Russia suffered a major setback in its war against Ukraine last week when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced its troops back from large swaths of the country's northeast.

ISW said Russian troops are attacking Bakhmut and villages near Donetsk City that are "of emotional significance to pro-war residents of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) but have little other importance."

They appear to be directing "some of the very limited reserves available in Ukraine to these efforts rather than to the vulnerable Russian defensive lines hastily thrown up along the Oskil River in eastern Kharkiv Oblast," ISW added.

Russia suffered a major setback in its war against Ukraine last week when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced its troops back from large swaths of the country's northeast.

The ISW said the Russians cannot hope to make large enough gains around Bakhmut or Donetsk City to derail Ukrainian counteroffensive operations, but appear "to be continuing an almost robotic effort to gain ground in Donetsk Oblast that seems increasingly divorced from the overall realities of the theater."

Russian troops' failure to rush large-scale reinforcements to the eastern Kharkiv and Luhansk regions is leaving most of the Russian-occupied northeast of the country "highly vulnerable" to continuing counteroffensives from Ukrainian forces, the ISW said.

It comes as British defense officials said Russia is likely to mount a ""stubborn defense" of the Luhansk oblast, but may not have the resources to handle a further push by Ukrainian forces.

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