Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Sirskiy Assesses Russian Attack Options

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, shared his thoughts on the possible next steps of Russia in the war. This was reported by Zamin.uz.

According to him, the option of Russia attacking Ukraine from the north — in the Chernihiv direction — is considered more realistic. Currently, there is no buildup of Russian forces observed on the border with Belarus.

Syrskyi answered a question about the development of military infrastructure on the Ukraine-Belarus border in an interview with the "1+1" TV channel. So far, there has been no significant buildup of Russian forces in this direction.

At the same time, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Moscow is studying various attack scenarios, including the possibility of using Belarusian territory. "We know that Putin has tasked the Russian General Staff with examining various options for the offensive operation, including the possibility of an attack from Belarus toward Kyiv," Syrskyi said.

The commander-in-chief of Ukraine emphasized that he does not consider an attack on Kyiv via Belarus to be realistic. For this scenario to be implemented, the leadership of Belarus would need to agree to provide its territory as a staging ground for an aggression, which currently seems unlikely.

Syrskyi considers the option of Russia attacking northern Ukraine from the Bryansk region to be more serious. The main objectives of such an attack could be to seize certain border areas of Ukraine, open a new front in the north, force part of the Ukrainian command to withdraw troops from Donbas, and stretch Ukraine’s defensive resources across multiple directions.

He also emphasized that conducting a large-scale offensive in the Chernihiv direction is not easy. Northern Ukraine has many swamps and forests.

The road network there is limited. In this area, the movement of heavy armored equipment is difficult, there are few bridges capable of carrying heavy loads, maintaining the pace of a large-scale offensive is challenging, and the forests are favorable for small-group raids.

For this reason, a rapid advance with large forces is very difficult.