Ukraine is bracing for a new and potentially more challenging phase in its war to repel Russia’s invasion as the battles shift east to new terrain that could give more of an advantage to the Russians.
The wide-open spaces will make it harder for the Ukrainians to run guerrilla operations as they did in the forests of the north and the west and play to Russia’s ability to muster large mechanized formations of tanks and armored vehicles.
But much will depend on whether the Russians can rectify the mistakes they made in the first phase of their invasion, ranging from the failure of supply lines, logistical challenges and poor planning to using insufficient manpower for the size of the area they were attempting to seize, analysts say.
