Military Diversion

A diversion is a military tactic designed to distract or divert the enemy’s attention away from an intended area of operation.

Example:

When the invasion began in February of 2022, Russian military entrered Ukraine from three directions, north (from Belarus and Russia on Kyiv and Chernigov), east (from Russia on Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Doneck regions), and south (from Crimea on Melitopol, Berdyansk, and Kherson).

By March 25, 2022, a realistic impression was created that Russians target Kyiv and the entire eastern Ukraine, although no serious missile or air force attacks on Kyiv were attempted. It looked like a fake front. In the south, an attempt was made to surround Mykolaiv and Odessa. If this offensive had reached the borders with Moldova and Romania, Ukraine would lose access to both Black Sea and Sea of Azov. It would become a landlocked country. This, however, did not happen.

While Ukrainian forces were stretched out thin, Russians secured the main target area in the south-east. This gave them a land connection between Crimea and their mainland as well as a source of fresh water for Crimea via existing canals originating at the Dnieper River near Kherson – (these canals were blocked by the Ukrainians after Crimea had joined the Russian Federation in 2014). Having achieved this goal, Russians rolled back their fronts in the North and East of Ukraine, as well as their operations west of the Dnieper River. Their focus has changed to completing the border line and security in the south-east as well as targeting NATO weapons’ deliveries and mercenary forces in the rest of Ukraine.

Fast forward to 2025, Russia continues its efforts to secure and consolidate the south-eastern areas of Ukraine, to complete the controlled areas all the way to the borders of the new Luhansk and Doneck republics, to target still existing pockets of resistance, to target military capabilities of Ukraine, NATO weapons deliveries, and mercenary forces on the entire territory of Ukraine.

Simultaneously, Russia is maintaining a “couldron” in the Kursk direction, where Ukrainian counter-offensive was allowed to take place earlier. Russia has stopped this invasion but is not in a hurry to close this grinder as it effectively ties up some of the best Ukrainian forces away from the main operation in South-East. Military diversion, again.

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Source of maps: https://southfront.press/

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Related:

• A Tactic Called Diversion – (Part 2)