ISW: Russia is conducting “strategically senseless” offensive operations in Donbass

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its latest report called the offensive operations that Russia is conducting in Donbass “strategically senseless.”

Russian forces continue to conduct pointless offensive operations around Donetsk and Bakhmut instead of concentrating on defending against the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The report said Russia was trying to seize towns that “have emotional significance for pro-war DPR residents” but are otherwise of “little significance.” The U.S. analysts said the Russian military cannot hope to seize enough territory in the area to disrupt the Ukrainian offensive, and its efforts “seem increasingly disconnected from the larger realities of the theater.”

ISW also admits that Russia could decide not to defend the territories it controls in northeastern Ukraine, which remain “extremely vulnerable to a Ukrainian counteroffensive.”