Ukrainian Defense Forces conduct short offensives in south and exhaust enemy - Syrskyi

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this in an interview with Reuters, Ukrinform reported.

"Our goals remain unchanged: holding our positions ... exhausting the enemy by inflicting maximum losses," Syrskyi said.

He noted how Russia was looking to seize the initiative as the invasion neared its second anniversary. They were pressing in multiple directions along the eastern front, Syrskyi said, with the aim of wresting full control of the industrial Donbas region despite heavy losses in men and supplies.

Russia also hopes to claw back ground it lost in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, he added. Ukrainian troops, for their part, are staging smaller counter-attacks in what Syrskyi described as "active defence": keeping the enemy on its toes by seeking opportunities to strike while they look to regain the initiative.

Engagements on both sides are on a smaller scale to conserve ammunition and men, he added, suggesting Russia has also learned to react and stem losses.

"Offensives at the level of a battalion are a major rarity," said Syrskyi, adding that wider use of drones has forced the change in tactic.

As reported, on January 13, the head of the joint press center of the South Operational Command, Natalia Humeniuk, said that Russian troops had returned to active assault operations in southern Ukraine.