A months-long examination by The Washington Post of Ukraine’s successful Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives involved interviews with more than 35 people, including Ukrainian commanders, officials in Kyiv and combat troops, as well as senior U.S. and European military and political officials. Here are some key findings:
1. Ukrainian Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky suggested the Kharkiv counteroffensive when the General Staff asked for diversionary operations. It was designed to prevent Russia from concentrating all its forces on defending Kherson in the south, but it was also an operation that Syrsky argued had a strong prospect of success in its own right. To plan the offensive, Syrsky met in a large operations room in Ukraine’s east with his top aides and key brigade commanders. On a 520-square-foot 3D-printed terrain map of the part of the Kharkiv region held by Russia, each commander walked the path of his unit’s planned assault, discussing coordination, contingencies and worst-case scenarios. “It was painstaking work,” Syrsky said.
