Operation “Z”
Russia’s Lost War
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Measured by its political objectives, Russia lost the war in Ukraine when its invading army had to withdraw from the northern theatre of war around Kyïv in March 2022. The northeastern campaign around Sumy and Kharkiv also ended with the withdrawal of the aggressor’s troops in September. In the east and south, the campaign, which had been planned as a war of movement, turned into trench warfare and a war of attrition, in which Russia was quantitatively superior in weapon systems, while Ukraine had better-led personnel at its disposal. When and how the war ends depends not only on the will to fight among each country’s population, but also on how much manpower and matériel both sides are able to mobilize.
(Osteuropa 9-10/2022, pp. 133–162)