Opening prospects for maneuver: the Armed Forces have to fight in difficult weather conditions - ISW

The report of December 13 states that the official representative of the operational command "South" of the Armed Forces, the first -rank captain Natalia Humeniuk stated that bad weather conditions complicate the fighting on the Left Bank of Kherson region. She noted that the fog and temperature fluctuations complicate the conduct of offensive operations, the use of drones and artillery.

In addition, the head of the Lugansk Ova Artem Lisogor stated that bad weather conditions interfere with Russian air strikes and drones in Kupyansk-Liman direction. According to analysts, Russian sources also say that dirt, rain, snow and ice interfere with land attacks north of Verbov in the west of Zaporizhzhya region. It is noted that Russian troops continued offensive operations under Bakhmut and Avdiivka, despite "extremely unfavorable" weather conditions.

It is noted that one of the Russian troops stated that a recent snow storm improved the conditions for land operations in the occupied Luhansk region. "You will probably need more than one snow storm and constant temperatures below zero so that the soil is strengthened so much that it was possible to restore the shunting battle," the report said. Russian sources also report that the occupiers use difficult weather conditions for ground operations.

However, Ukrainian intelligence drones cannot yet be fully involved. "Russian troops have probably carried out offensive operations on several areas of the front during the most difficult weather conditions of the autumn-winter season, seeking to intercept and keep the initiative before the presidential election in Russia in March 2024," the analysts said. It should be noted that earlier in ISW ​​reported that the Armed Forces had successful attacks near Bakhmut and Avdiivka.