The Battle for Avdiyivka demonstrated to the russians the effectiveness of the mass use of guided aerial bombs to destroy the fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They will probably now use this tactic en masse.
This is stated in the material of the Forbes publication.
The text says that in the first stages of a full-scale invasion, russian aviation barely supported the ground forces. This was caused by poor training and management, as well as poor quality weapons.
At the same time, the last weeks of fighting for Avdiyivka showed a change in the situation. In just two days, the russians dropped 250 aerial bombs on the city, which caused serious damage to the Ukrainian defense.
"Now when the russians have finally figured out how to support their ground forces from the air, we can expect them to repeat this tactic in other areas of the front," the publication quotes a fragment of a recent report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
According to ISW analysts, the bombing of Avdiyivka may portend changes in russian operations in other areas of the front line.
According to information from open sources, the russian army has a thousand aircraft capable of carrying modified aerial bombs.
Equipping "blunt" aerial bombs with planning kits and satellite guidance systems allows russian planes to drop them approximately 50-60 kilometers from the front line, without exposing themselves to the danger of Ukrainian air defense systems.
According to the alleged repeated statements of the Ukrainian military, modified aerial bombs have become one of the most dangerous types of russian weapons.
In Avdiyivka, the Ukrainian military assumed that the large number of high-rise buildings would provide reliable positions and observation points, but russian aerial bombs methodically destroyed them during the last months of fighting for the city.
US ISW analysts believe this was the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion that russian aircraft played a decisive role in ground force operations.
The Forbes article notes that the Ukrainian military has air defense systems capable of shooting down russian bombers, but the number of missiles for such systems is decreasing every day.
The largest supplier of anti-aircraft missiles to the Ukrainian army was the United States of America, but since October, Republicans in the US Congress have blocked the allocation of funds for continued aid.
In the absence of missiles for air defense systems, russian troops will probably try to repeat the success of the Avdiyivka bombing on other areas of the front.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on February 16, Deputy Commander of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Maksym Zhorin stated that from 60 to 80 russian aerial bombs fall on Avdiyivka every day.
It will be recalled that on February 17, it became known that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, instructed to begin the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiyivka.
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