19 November 2024

The Big Five - 16 November edition

Mick Ryan

As is every week these days, it was a fascinating week in war and international affairs. In this week’s update, I will focus mainly on the war in Ukraine but also provide an update on affairs in the Pacific as well.

Ukraine

The war in Ukraine and Russia continues to centre on two main campaigns - Kursk and the Donbas. However, more recently the Russians have begun an offensive in southern Ukraine and small raids into Kharkiv.

The Campaign in Kursk. This week the Ukrainians continued to inflict significant casualties on Russian attacking forces in Kursk. But the overall trend in this campaign is favourable to the Russians (and their North Korean allies). They have retaken about a quarter of the territory Ukraine seized in its August offensive. And while Ukraine has recently been able to retake a small amount of territory, the overall trend here is one of the Russians slowly grinding out advances in a manner similar to their eastern offensive over the past year.

No comments: