Kathrine Frich
Trying to crush the spirit of a massive population is an incredibly difficult task.
Long conflicts often look like endless battles of endurance where neither side can find a clear path to victory.
Observers usually focus on the front lines, watching troops move across muddy fields.
But a seasoned military strategist suggests the real breakthrough is happening far from the trenches.
Three vital factors
A prominent Belgian defense expert believes a shift in strategy is quietly altering the direction of the war.
In an interview with Ukrinform, retired Colonel Roger Housen explained that a nation’s strength relies on three specific elements: current combat power, long-term endurance, and public determination.
According to Housen, changing the path to victory requires breaking at least one of these pillars.
“The military power of a country is what we, military, call the combat power of the armed forces times the potential of a country to continue the fight for a long time, times the will of the people to fight. So, there are three factors which play their role in determining the military power of a country. And if you can reduce one of those three factors or all three of them you can win the war. What Ukraine is doing now is especially attacking the potential of Russia to continue the fight by its deep strikes and mid strikes, and that’s in my opinion the best way to change the course of this war,” Housen said.
Trying to crush the spirit of a massive population is an incredibly difficult task. Because of this, targeting industrial endurance is a much more effective option.
Damaging the machine
Housen pointed out that these continuous operations have spent months chipping away at core vulnerabilities.
“So decreasing the potential of Russia to continue in the long run this war is the best course of action, and Ukraine understood this very well,” the expert emphasized.
The ongoing campaign of aerial attacks is successfully draining vital resources. By focusing on factories and fuel hubs, the strategy systematically weakens the infrastructure needed to sustain a prolonged conflict.
Housen believes this material pressure will eventually force a diplomatic resolution.
“What we have been seeing in the past five to six months, that is the deep strikes first of all, and the mid strikes, are really hurting Russia by degrading the oil and gas infrastructure, by attacking the military industrial complex of Russia, by attacking all elements needed to continue this war in the long run. Ukraine can force Mr. Putin to stop the war and to start the negotiation round.”
Sources: Ukrinform
