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Ukraine Strikes Back
As we are approaching the sixth month of the war, we all can safely say that Ukraine has beaten everyone’s assumptions. Their resistance has lasted past most of our estimates.
And here we are, half a year into the conflict, with Ukrainian major counteroffensives against Russian troops in the news once again.
The question is how long Putin and his troops will be able to witshtand them.
I have written about the counteroffensives in Kherson, elsewhere. But it is worth reiterating the general logistics of the operation in order to understand Ukraine’s future military strategy.
It is no secret that the Black sea has always been strategically important for Ukraine, which is why Catherine the Great invaded it when back in the 18th century, when the peninsula still belonged to the Ottoman Empire.
With control of all of southern Ukraine, including the Kherson oblast, Putin would be able to make Ukraine a land-locked country, making it entirely dependant on trade coming from land.
That would be a significant problem and useful blackmail tool for Putin since he has already showed that he is willing to use food (especially grain and wheat) shortages as a result of the invasion to his advantage.
