How Ukraine Can Exploit F16s for Localized Advance into ROT
It will be worth the wait
When Ukraine kicked off their assault on the Russian frontline in early June, I found myself pausing for quite a while before labeling it as a counter-offensive. Looking back, I’m starting to think I should’ve stood my ground and held back from giving in.
Lesson learnt.
One week before the launch of the counter-offensive, on May 22, I made a strong case to delay the offensive operations until the F16s are in place:
why should Ukraine begin the counter-offensive so soon?
Why not delay?
What will happen if they try to reduce the time gap between the start of their counter-offensive and the arrival of F-16s? It is likely that Russia will use the time delay to recruit troops, manufacture weapons, dig trenches, and mine more farmlands. But they have been doing that for more than a year, and they will keep doing it as long as they have boots in Ukraine.
During this period, Ukraine can launch a massive shaping operation to choke off Russian supply routes, warehouses, and ammo depots. They can work deep behind enemy lines and keep disrupting.
As long as they keep their counteroffensives localized and draw the enemy into…
