Highlights: Moscow reported on Friday, May 26, Ukrainian bombing of the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, for the fifth consecutive day. These strikes are a battlefield-shaping tactic, an indispensable preamble to any offensive. An offensive against a fortified opponent necessarily involves a phase of "modeling" the battlefield. To do better than the autumn offensives, it is better for the Ukrainians to wait until all the planets are aligned and that the Western weaponry is well in place to go on the offensive.

Moscow reported on Friday, May 26, Ukrainian bombing of the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, for the fifth consecutive day. These strikes are a modeling tactic...

Strikes in the Belgorod region: the tactic of "modeling" before the offensive

Moscow reported on Friday, May 26, Ukrainian bombing of the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, for the fifth consecutive day. These strikes are a battlefield-shaping tactic, an indispensable preamble to any offensive.

Image from a video released by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense, armored military vehicles are seen damaged after fighting in the Belgorod region of western Russia on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. AP

Text by: RFI Follow

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If the Belgorod region is regularly hit by fire blamed by Moscow on the Ukrainian army, they are rarely so supported. According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, it has been subjected to dozens of artillery shells in the last 24 hours. Several buildings were reportedly damaged, but no casualties were reported.

The governor claimed that the Belgorod district, which surrounds the regional capital Belgorod, had been hit by 14 shots, including drones, one of which dropped a bomb on an administrative building, damaging its roof and blowing out the windows. According to this source, 12 shots hit the Volokonovsky district, bordering the Ukrainian Kharkiv region, and artillery and drone attacks that of Krasnoyarsky, bordering the Ukrainian Sumy region. The district surrounding Chebekino was hit by 35 rounds, including mortar shells, artillery shells and a drone attack on an agricultural business.

>> READ ALSO: Incursion in the Belgorod region: Russia recognizes "deep concern"

Creating a favourable situation

Strike after strike, from north to south, the Ukrainian army shapes the front line. The military calls this "shaping." An offensive against a fortified opponent necessarily involves a phase of "modeling" the battlefield. The attacker is not limited to weakening the opposing forces by firing; Above all, in order to achieve its objectives, it tries to create a favourable situation.

To achieve this, Ukraine is also acting in the field of information to spare the element of surprise in time and not just in space, points out Philippe Gros, of the Foundation for Strategic Research. It is necessary to sow doubt and force the Russian army to disperse its forces. To do better than the autumn offensives, it is better for the Ukrainians to wait until all the planets are aligned and that the Western weaponry is well in place to go on the offensive, explains former military aviator Xavier Tytelman.

>> READ ALSO: Armed incursions into Russia: "Those who pass through our structure are not necessarily ultra-right"

Strikes in the Belgorod region: the tactic of "modeling" before the offensive

Strikes in the Belgorod region: the tactic of "modeling" before the offensive

Creating a favourable situation

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