'Tank killers' needed for successful Ukraine counter-offensive, says military strategist

Ukrainian soldiers wave in war-hit Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
Ukrainian soldiers wave in war-hit Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Copyright Iryna Rubakova/AP
Copyright Iryna Rubakova/AP
By Euronews with AP
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Experts told Euronews combined arms warfare is needed to "conduct offensive operations that could actually put the Russians into retreat and allow Ukrainians to reclaim some of their territories."

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A Ukrainian counteroffensive is impossible as long as there are not enough light vehicles to accompany tanks on the battlefield, experts told Euronews.

They said without additional wheels, weapons and ammunition, the situation could not move from the current static trench warfare, similar to that of World War One, to combat manoeuvres and ground assaults.

Elcano Royal Institute analyst Félix Arteaga said tanks needed to go hand-in-hand with combat and transport vehicles like so-called "tank killers" the Bradleys and the Humvees.

"With the figures we have now, of course, neither the Russian side nor the Ukrainian side has the capacity to launch this offensive," he said.

"In the coming weeks, it does not seem feasible that one or the other can carry out an offensive like the one that is needed in order to break the defensive positions."

With the battlefront in Ukraine effectively reduced to the Donbas area, Russia and Ukraine's armies are clashing without a predominant force capable of breaking through defensive positions.

Bradley Bowman, Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC, told Euronews that combined arms warfare is needed to "conduct offensive operations that could actually put the Russians into retreat and allow Ukrainians to reclaim some of their territories."

For more watch Euronews' report above.

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