Former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and current Ambassador to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhnyi has admitted that Ukraine paid too high a price during its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. In his article for Zerkalo Nedeli, he assessed the lessons of the conflict and sharply criticized the doctrine of his successor, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The Price Was Too High
Zaluzhnyi noted that limited operations can be justified if measured against human losses and clear objectives.
“Of course, such actions can be carried out if justified above all by human losses, with limited goals. (...) The price of such actions is unknown to me, but it is obvious that it was too high,”
he admitted.
Criticism of Syrskyi’s Doctrine
The general criticized Syrskyi’s approach of breakthrough operations with small mobile groups on a narrow sector of the front. According to Zaluzhnyi, such tactics fail to achieve lasting success under modern conditions. He emphasized that Russian forces not only prevented Ukraine’s tactical success from turning into an operational breakthrough, but also mounted their own successful offensive.
He added that while Ukrainian units initially managed to bring armored vehicles into border areas using electronic warfare, Russia quickly adapted, deploying FPV drones with fiber-optic guidance and taking the lead in this sphere.
“All this, of course, has left its mark on the tactics of infantry, which must bear the main burden of the war,”
Zaluzhnyi wrote.
Deadlock on the Battlefield
Reflecting on the broader conflict, Zaluzhnyi declared that the war has reached a stalemate since the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in summer 2023. He described the front as positional, resembling but not fully repeating the trench warfare of World War I.
“Despite the general stability of the contact line, there is slow, sometimes local, and sometimes wider movement, acquiring a creeping character,”
he explained.
According to him, the stalemate is the result of drone development, the impossibility of massing large troop formations without prohibitive losses, and the near-parity between Russia and Ukraine achieved through Western aid. However, Zaluzhnyi warned that Russia is more likely to break this deadlock thanks to its drone production capacity and the use of small assault groups in what he called a “thousand cuts” strategy.
War of Attrition and Strategic Risks
The former commander stressed that Ukraine should not count on a clear-cut military victory and defined success instead as denying Russia the ability to impose its conditions. He urged Kyiv to focus on technological innovation for the armed forces.
“Systematic attrition of forces and resources will sooner or later lead to the complete burnout of defending troops,”
Zaluzhnyi warned, describing the risks of a drawn-out war of attrition.
Internal Enemies and Criticism
Zaluzhnyi also mentioned his critics inside Ukraine, accusing them of attacking him for studying Russian strategy too closely.
“Although I understand that I give my enemies a chance to accuse me again of excessive study of Russia — which, in their opinion, is unacceptable while the war continues — I will nevertheless side with the non-Russian author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu,”
he wrote.
Echoes of the Failed Counteroffensive
His reflections echoed remarks made in February 2024 by presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, who admitted that Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive left a “negative aftertaste” and that “certain tactical mistakes” had been made by the Ukrainian army.
