In 2023, the Ukrainian authorities widely announced plans on the battlefield. The military leadership called for a “regime of silence,” but no one responded. Now, the top military ranks have said that next year, everything will change: no one will inform the public about the strategy, and people will learn about everything after the fact. But despite this, specialists can predict how Ukraine plans to act further. Before the arrival of the New Year 2024, analysts and military experts told how this is known and what exactly to expect on the battlefield.
What are the forecasts based on?
The government and the command are really fulfilling their promise: the plans for the next 12 months are not spread. But there is no need to think that the strategy is not prepared. In fact, it is thought out in advance because, after the agreement, a request for the supply of the following military aid packages must be made to the partners according to the plans.
Last year, in its requests, Kyiv emphasized a broad list of armored vehicles and everything necessary for an attack. Now, everything has changed because it has requested detonation equipment, ammunition, and a lot of protective HESCO barriers in the USA. What are they?
HESCO fences are collapsible structures like baskets made of metal mesh, which are folded into cubes filled with soil. They are laid out in a row and form a protective wall. Such fences are more effective than concrete fences because they have the following characteristics:
– the earth is more elastic and resilient; thus, it better stops direct projectiles and withstands powerful explosions;
– HESCO can be reused many times;
– even a small division quickly fills such cubes to establish protection in just a few hours.
This shows that the military leadership is planning a transition from an active to a defensive position.
What to expect?
Such orientation does not mean that Ukrainians are going to lose territories. On the contrary, against the background of the attack by the Russian army, which was foreseen and predicted, they will do everything not to give up a single meter of Ukrainian land but at the same time save the lives of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Therefore, the request for these structures indicates the preparation of a defensive position, which will give time to withstand till the next transfer of offensive weapons.
However, this does not mean that Ukraine will take a passive position. Because of what is happening now, the key events are not planned in the zone of combat actions. They will shift to the rear of the occupier and sometimes even to the territory of Russia. It happens because preventing the supply of weapons and equipment even on the territory of the Russian Federation is cheaper and more rational than repelling attacks in close combat.
