When Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the odds were not equal. Russia
spent 10 times more on its military than Ukraine and had an overwhelming superiority in military
equipment. The Ukrainian military could not resist it for long. Ukraines only hope
was to receive help from its allies, but Ukraine needed to survive long enough on
its own for the help to arrive. This video will cover how Ukraine was able to hold on.
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Now let's get back to the winter of 2022. Ukraine relied on the help from its allies,
but in order to receive it, Ukraine had to hold on. Russia could use its superiority in equipment
to quickly encircle and destroy the weaker Ukrainian army by using Blitzkrieg tactics.
Ukraine hoped to counter this with appropriate tactics. One tactic was to fortify its troops
in the cities. This would force the Russians to fight in urban terrain,
which is very costly for the attacker. The second tactic was to strongly defend
a suitable part of terrain. These defensive advantages would be enough to nullify the
Russian superiority in equipment and allow the Ukrainian forces to hold on.
Ukraine hoped that these tactics would allow its forces to survive the Russian invasion
long enough for its allies to send help. We still don’t know much for sure about the war
and the following is my opinion on how the events unfolded. The invasion was launched
from three directions. The decisive offensive of the first period of war took place in the north
and we will look at it first. The Ukrainian troops had fortified themselves in the larger towns,
while the Russian invasion forces were stationed in Belarus and Russia.
The Russian plan was for the special forces to land near Kyiv and topple Ukraines government,
which was expected to shatter the Ukrainian resistance. The ground forces were to use that
and occupy the major cities in the region. But the special forces assault failed. The
ground forces moved in, but they were too weak to conquer Northeast Ukraine on their own.
In the North the Russians occupied the small undefended cities,
but failed to capture Chernihiv. On the southern part of the region the
Russians got quickly stuck before Ukrainian defenses in Sumy and other smaller towns.
In the center the Russians secured the city of Konotop under their control
and continued forward. They bypassed the town of Nizhin and reached Kyivs suburb of Brovary. But
the Russians had dispersed their forces near the Ukrainian cities and the troops that had reached
Kyiv were too weak to launch a proper assault on the city. They had to halt their offensive.
At the same time the second Russian attack came from Belarussian territory north of Kyiv.
Without large cities to hold them back, the Russian forces quickly reached the Ukrainian
capital. They now began to storm the city. Part of the forces moved south to cut off the supply route
into Kyiv and the others battled towards the center of the city through its suburbs - Bucha
and Irpin. But then the tide began to turn. The Russians had not destroyed the Ukrainian army and
it now began to attack Russian supply lines. In addition, Russia had only some tens of thousands
of troops near Kyiv, while the city's population was just under three million. Having armed part of
the city's population, the Ukrainian forces gained the upper hand and started pushing the Russians
back. The Russian command realized that the Russian forces in the area were too weak to take
Kyiv and lacked forces to even properly maintain their supply lines. The order was given to abandon
the campaign and withdraw their forces completely from Northern Ukraine. In the beginning of April
the Russian forces had pulled out from northern Ukraine to fight another day.
At the same time there was fighting in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine.
In eastern Ukraine there was the industrial region of Donbas. This region offered much better
opportunities for defense and Ukraine decided to dig in here. After the fighting in 2014-2015
the region was split between Ukrainian controlled territory and lands controlled by the Pro-Russian
separatists. Ukraine had built strong fortifications on the line of contact
and now made them into a part of a defensive line. In the North the Ukrainian defenses were
set up behind the Siversky Donets river. The defensive line was strengthened by the
existence of several cities. With the cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol serving as the corner points.
When the invasion commenced,
the Russian forces occupied the undefended area north of the Ukrainian defensive line.
At the same time they launched an attack against the Ukrainian defenses in the South.
This attack was meant to support the Russian advance from the south, where Russia invaded
Ukraine from the Crimea. The Ukrainians did not apply their special tactics there. Their forces
were deployed near the border and were strongly disorganized during the initial Russian assault,
which allowed the Russians to advance without encountering much resistance. In the East the
Russians goal was to reach the Donbas. After defeating the Ukrainians at the border they
quickly took Melitopol. The Ukainians were only able to regroup near Orikhiv and Hulyaipole,
where they stopped the Russian advance. It allowed the Russians to freely advance in the south,
where they took Berdyansk and approached Mariupol. This is when the attack against the Ukrainian
Donbas defenses comes into play. It was a strong attack and broke through the Ukrainian field
fortifications. With their positions outflanked, the Ukrainian forces took in the defense in the
city of Mariupol. The Russians began capturing the city in urban warfare. They had to spend
two and a half months in heavy battles for the city until they managed to take it.
At the same time the Russian forces were advancing from Crimea to the west, with the presumable goal
of reaching Odessa. In the beginning of the invasion the Ukrainian forces were shattered by
the Russians and had to abandon the Dnieper river line and the city of Kherson to the Russians.
But then Ukrainian forces regrouped in the cities on the Southern Bug river.
The Russians attempted to take Mykolayiv and cross the river, but they could not take it. They
then moved to capture the bridge at Voznesensk, but they could not take that city either. The
Russians abandoned their plans of crossing the Southern Bug and pulled back to more defensible
positions. They then consolidated their defensive positions on the southern part of the front.
During February and March the Russians had stretched their forces out along the whole front.
They had made inroads into Ukrainian territory, but failed to encircle and
destroy much of the Ukrainian army, which allowed Ukraine to continue the resistance.
Now they deployed them in one place. They pulled out their troops from northern Ukraine and stopped
the advance in the south. They concentrated only on the Ukrainian held part of the Donbas,
with the goal of encircling the Ukrainian forces.
The Ukrainians hoped that their defenses on the Seversky Donets river and their
field fortifications would be strong enough to prevent Russians from breaking through.
In the south the Ukrainian fortifications were weaker,
but for reasons that are not fully clear Russia did not choose to launch major attacks there.
In order to cut off the Ukrainian forces, Russia needed to cover 160 kilometers. The main attack
would be launched from the north. The town of Izyum was just in the way of the Russian forces.
The Russians assaulted it, but the Ukrainians were able to hold on for the whole month of March.
The time the Russians had spent on taking Izyum gave the Ukrainians the time to understand the
Russian plan and prepare a strong defense. The Russians ran into heavy resistance and during the
month of April could only cover very little ground. The Russians realized that they had
little chance of breaking through. They adopted an easier goal with their objective being to cut
off the Ukrainian held cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The distance to cover
was 50 kilometers. The fighting took place mostly in late April and May. The Russians approached the
Seversky Donets from the north, but then they realized that crossing the river was too risky.
The Russians switched their main effort to the southern attack.
Here they gained some ground, but the Ukrainian defenses held on until they could bring strong
reinforcements. This meant that cutting off the Ukrainian forces would prove too difficult.
The Russians then decided for an even simpler goal. They decided to approach the two cities from
the South and encircle them that way. During the month of June they took this territory and Ukraine
had to pull its forces out to avoid encirclement and Russia gained control over the cities.
What happened next? Well, the front line did not move much for some weeks and then
this video was uploaded to YouTube.
By holding out Ukraine has been able to receive help from its allies,
which have made the Ukrainian defense more successful. During the first month Ukraine
received a lot of anti-tank weapons, which has lessened the advantage of Russian tank forces.
The allies have also replenished Ukraines stocks of artillery ammunition,
which has allowed it to continue the struggle.
The arrival of American anti-ship missiles has lessened the role of the Russian fleet
and the long range artillery has helped Ukraine in general, by limiting Russian supply flow.
But the outcome of the struggle is not certain, as Russia still retains
the advantage in several ways. Ukraine has done everything it can do on its part by holding out,
but the rest is dependent on its allies and how much help they are willing and able to give.
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