Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi believes that "there will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough at the front." He said this in an interview with The Economist.
"Just like in the First World War, we have reached a level of technology development that puts us (Ukraine and Russia - Ed.) in a dead end," he said.
"The simple fact is that we see everything the enemy does, and they see everything we do. To break this deadlock, we need to invent something fundamentally new. Just like the Chinese invented gunpowder," said the Armed Forces chief.
Zaluzhnyi also admitted that the strategy of bleeding out the Russian army was a mistake.
"It was my mistake. Russia has lost at least 150,000 people killed. In any other country, such losses would have stopped the war," Zaluzhnyi said.
It is worth noting that the figure he cites is half the number of Russians killed reported by the General Staff. According to the agency, more than 300,000 of them have been killed in Ukraine.
Zaluzhnyi also admitted that the counteroffensive went against the calculations of the Armed Forces and NATO textbooks.
"If you look at the NATO textbooks and the mathematical calculations we made, four months should have been enough for us to reach Crimea, fight in Crimea, return from Crimea and enter and leave again," the general said.
According to him, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were supposed to advance in the south at a rate of 30 kilometers per day.
"At first I thought something was wrong with our commanders, so I changed some of them. Then I thought that maybe our soldiers were not good enough, so I transferred soldiers to some brigades," Zaluzhnyi says.
But then Zaluzhnyi found a Soviet textbook about breaking through fortifications during World War I: "I realized that this is exactly where we are, because, just like then, the level of technological development today has stumped both us and our enemies."
According to Zaluzhnyi, the way to win is either through some major technological breakthrough - but "there is no sign" that it is coming soon. Or through superiority in key weapons, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces also do not have.
The general believes that Russia is currently capable of maintaining superiority in weapons and equipment, missiles and ammunition for a considerable time. At the same time, the capabilities of the Russian military industry are growing despite the sanctions.
As we reported earlier, Russia may increase the number of aviation to 8 divisions by the end of 2023.
