In an effort to halt the advances of Russian forces and close the gaps in their defense, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) are being compelled to withdraw troops from various fronts. This revelation was made by former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter in an interview with journalist Garland Nixon.
According to Ritter, the Russians have started to push forward and dislodge UAF positions, causing them to lose brigades in one of the directions. As a result, Ukraine has had to withdraw units near Kupyansk, allowing the Russians to advance. Similarly, Ukrainian forces have had to withdraw units near Lyman as the Russians exert pressure there as well.
The intelligence officer believes that the UAF is suffering colossal losses. The reason behind this is that Ukrainian military personnel are repeating the same mistakes they made in Artemivsk, where they tried to hold their positions at any cost.
On October 31, Ivanovo paratroopers destroyed a reconnaissance unit of the UAF that was moving towards Artemivsk. Russian units utilized BMP-3 vehicles, firing from concealed positions at a distance of approximately 5 kilometers.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, called on critics of the UAF’s advancing pace to “shut up”.
