Ukraine pursuing active defense: AFU Chief names hottest frontline sectors

Russian forces are attempting to conduct intensive offensive operations, concentrating their efforts on several key sectors, while Ukraine’s Defense Forces are employing a strategy of active defense involving counterattacks and offensive operations wherever possible.

According to Ukrinform, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said this in an interview with Militarnyi.

“They [the Russians] are trying to carry out intensive offensive actions. The key feature is that they are now concentrating on several main directions: Pokrovsk, Ocheretyne, Oleksandrivka, Kostiantynivka, Lyman, and partly Kupiansk. In addition, lower-intensity operations are being conducted along the state border in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions,” he said.

According to Syrskyi, Ukrainian troops are fully applying the principle of active defense, combining counterattacks and offensive actions while also seizing the strategic initiative in certain sections of the front.

“We must seize the strategic initiative, and therefore we are conducting active defense. Thanks to this, in March our troops regained control of nearly 50 square kilometers of territory that had been occupied by the enemy,” the Commander-in-Chief said.

He added that Ukraine’s Defense Forces are compensating for the enemy’s numerical superiority through the quality of combat operations, forcing Russian troops to act according to the rules set by Ukrainian units and delaying the timelines for accomplishing their objectives.

Ukrainian forces are also carrying out strikes on military and defense-industrial facilities inside Russia that support the war effort.

As reported by Ukrinform, since the beginning of the day there have been 63 combat clashes between Ukraine’s Defense Forces and Russian occupation troops. The enemy is exerting the greatest pressure in the Pokrovsk sector.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine