Ukraine has a breakthrough problem | 2023 | Publications

Ukraine has a breakthrough problem: History suggests Ukraine's current campaign is more daunting than the public understands

Barry Posen 

Foreign Policy, August 3, 2023

It is the stated policy of the Ukrainian government to retake all of the territory that Russia has seized since 2014, including Crimea. To achieve this goal through military action, the Ukrainian military must accomplish one of the most daunting of military tasks: It must break through dense, well-prepared defensive positions, find some running room, and then either move quickly toward an important geographic objective such as the Sea of Azov, hoping to unravel the remains of the defending Russian army along the way, or quickly attempt to encircle a portion of Russia’s sizable forces in hopes of annihilating them.