Captain Viktor Tregubov is a political activist and journalist who has been serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) because 2014.

He spoke solely to Kyiv Submit about Russia’s system in the fight for Bakhmut in Donbas and the hottest developments on the entrance.

Do you feel Russia is scheduling a spring offensive?

At the instant, the Russians are concentrating all their forces on Bakhmut, piling strain on with all the methods they have at their disposal, and there is a large amount of people supplied by Russian prisons, from which the Wagner [mercenary] group is recruiting.

Wagner’s management has a robust motivation to present that they are the most able in the Russian military and, as a outcome, the key direction of the Russian assault is concentrated in Bakhmut.

There is no facts on whether or not the Russians will attack in other directions. There was data about a Russian offensive on the entrance in Zaporizhzhia Location, but that has not been confirmed.

Details about an [imminent] offensive from Belarusian territory is also unconfirmed, whilst folks are constantly frightened by this news in media stores.

In accordance to Ukrainian army intelligence, there are no strike teams of Russian troops in place that are huge ample to start an offensive from Belarus.

American industry experts suggest us to leave Bakhmut and concentrate on making ready new forces for a counteroffensive in a couple of months time. I don’t think our command will do that.

Does Russia have sufficient forces to capture Bakhmut?

I hope not. It has been hard there for a extensive time now, but our military does not want to go away Bakhmut.

It is dependent on no matter whether the Russians slash off the provide routes – the streets foremost to Bakhmut. If the Russians regulate to just take handle of these roadways, then Ukrainian forces will be compelled to retreat, just like they did in the circumstance with Mariupol.

Of training course, Bakhmut is scaled-down, but the problem will be equivalent, and we will have to retreat.

Right until that happens, there is a “meat grinder” existing in Bakhmut, and it’s harder for the Russians there simply because they are attacking. It is mostly Wagner personal armed service company (PMC) fighters who are using portion in this offensive.

These fighters are not regarded as losses for the Russian military, specifically if they are prisoners.

As prolonged as the Russian command won’t run out of prisoners to throw into battle, losses in Bakhmut are not a challenge for Russia.

What are the tactics staying employed by the Russians?

Only Wagner PMC fighters are using aspect in the offensive. They thrust prisoners forward and check out to deplete our defense forces so that we operate out of ammunition and they can see our firing positions.

The Russians made use of the exact same tactic in Mariupol, but instead of prisoners, they utilized men and women mobilized from the so-called DPR and LPR [Russian-run enclaves]. When they are killed on the battlefield, the Russians see where by the shelling is coming from and can, for illustration, assault our firing details.

Maybe they ran out of men and women mobilized from the DPR and LPR and replaced them with prisoners, but this is a tactic we connect with “meat waves”.

It is appealing that Russian artillery is peaceful – earlier on Russian assaults utilized artillery in the key, but now they should have operate out of shells, or maybe it is a result of the conflict involving those who operate Wagner PMC and the Russian military command. Instead of “artillery waves”, they are launching “meat waves”.

Is the Wagner PMC making use of “meat wave“ strategies?

Yes, there is a little distance, about a kilometer, amongst the city place and the place the enemy is locale.

When there is no want to convey ammunition from considerably absent, you can even wander, so the tactic of “meat waves” on this aspect of the frontline is justified.

The Russians will not be able to scale up and repeat this tactic more than lengthier distances since our artillery will start off doing work effectively on their positions and communications.

In accordance to Russian resources, the person who owns Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, arrived to inspire combating prisoners in Bakhmut. Is this genuine?

Yes, and on a lot more than a single celebration. He’s continuously visiting the entrance. It truly is a PR strategy. He is making an attempt to construct a status as the only capable person in the Russian electrical power bloc, so it is extremely important for Prigozhin.

How could events create on the entrance? What are the eventualities?

The strategy of the Russians encompassing Bakhmut to force our defense forces to retreat is a chance, at the very least for now.

There is information and facts that Putin gave the purchase to capture Donetsk Area by Feb. 24, but that is impossible.

After capturing Bakhmut, the Russian army would have to progress a sizeable distance and would confront problems with communications and materials.

Also, they will also need to seize Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk Region, and it’s unrealistic to capture these metropolitan areas swiftly.

Is there a likelihood that our military could carry out a counteroffensive from yet another direction?

Certainly, we are obtaining far more and additional Western weapons, forming new mechanized brigades, and we also have to have tanks, which are offensive weapons. We will need to prepare reserves to liberate our territories occupied by Russia.

It is a make a difference of time – just how rapidly can put new brigades into action and no matter if Russia will attempt to scale up the offensive from other instructions, for case in point, from Belarus. So far, nothing signifies this, but we even now require time to prepare our servicemen.

Does the weather conditions have an effects on the scenario, as it is now unseasonably heat in Ukraine?

Indeed, it does, since it is incredibly inconvenient to advance in mud, except if we are talking about an offensive in an urban atmosphere. If we are conversing about a substantial-scale procedure involving mechanized units, it is tricky to progress in mud, so we have to hold out for the ground to either freeze or dry.

To what extent is the availability of tanks critical to any counteroffensive?

Yes, the tanks are crucial, but they are not the only issue we need to have. Preferably, we want plane to carry out strikes, or if there is no air superiority, at minimum highly effective air defense to stop the enemy from hitting troops on the offensive, so it really is a intricate problem. Still, in total phrases, we incredibly substantially need to have tanks in our confrontation with the Russian Federation.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is preparing to announce the future wave of mobilization. Will this support them to manage an offensive?

I really don’t imagine mobilization will support. The concern is: how lots of Russians want to go to war? How quite a few will be equipped to be driven to the entrance, and how they will be armed and properly trained?

At the peak of the invasion, Russia proficiently held about 100,000 -150,000 servicemen in Ukraine, and this is not the determine of 500,000 they are talking about now.

There is a selected logistical ability. They could get the numbers of men and women, but it will be tough to deliver them with provides.

Of program, if they are likely to throw these forces into “meat waves” in Bakhmut, then it helps make perception. Nonetheless, it will not assist the Russians to perform an offensive in Zaporizhzhia Region or to recapture Kherson.

This prepared mobilization is, in my viewpoint, additional about demonstrating Russian society that the war in Ukraine is a really critical matter.

Russia has of course misplaced in phrases of its global strategic plan, so why does it continue to battle?

The Russian management can’t capitulate since this would severely undermine their power situation in Russia, even to the level of physical survival, so they really don’t want to give up.

Even when our victory is apparent, the Russian command will resist right up until the troubles they have within the country alone outweigh the outcomes of getting rid of the war.

They have brought up a modern society that needs these territorial gains and the folks of Russia are not ready to accept the thought that Russia may possibly shed.