US 'War-Gamed' With Ukraine, Advised Limited Goals & Geography Before ‘Counteroffensive’ - Report

The Russian Defense Ministry said on 29 August that its forces had repelled an offensive by the Kiev regime in the Nikolayev and Kherson regions after Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych announced the start of an operation to regain lost territory and “liberate” the southern territories from Russia.

Washington had engaged in "war-gaming" with the Kiev authorities before the recent “counter-offensive” launched in the south by Ukrainian troops, CNN reported.

Specific analytical exercises had been carried out so that the Ukrainian side could establish what force it would need to win in a variety of scenarios, according to cited US and western officials, as well as Ukrainian sources. The planning exercises purportedly allowed the US to understand what kind of “equipment, munitions or intelligence” it could offer that might be useful to Ukraine.

As part of the “war-gaming”, the Kiev regime was reportedly advised to limit the strategic goals and the geography of the operation they were planning as a “counter-offensive” to avoid getting bogged down on a number of fronts.

According to the report, Ukrainian troops were originally gearing up for broader action, including targeting the south-eastern city of Zaporozhye. But they heeded the western advice and restricted their operation to the south, refocusing efforts on Kherson region.

As a result of the special operation that began on 24 February, after the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics asked for help from Russia to defy intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops, Russian armed forces have established control over the Azov coast in the Zaporozhye region and the entire Kherson region.

Local administrations have already been formed in the two regions, which have announced plans to hold referendums for accession to Russia.

When asked to comment on the report that Washington had “war-gamed” with Kiev authorities, Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Patrick Ryder was cited as saying that the United States has “routine military-to-military dialogue at several levels with Ukraine". Refusing to comment on any specifics, he added:

“Generally speaking, we provide the Ukrainians with information... Ultimately, the Ukrainians are making the final decisions for their operations."

Throughout the past months, Ukrainian forces have been increasing their artillery rocket and missile fire in the south, with the local administration of the Kherson Region calling on Kiev to stop shelling the region, destroying infrastructure and terrorizing the local population. In late July, the deputy head of the Kherson regional military-civil administration, Kirill Stremousov, accused American specialists of being behind the attacks launched by Ukrainian forces against residential buildings using HIMARS missiles.

Ukrainian troops also launched strikes against the hydroelectric power station (HPP) in Novaya Kakhovka and the Antonovsky Bridge that crosses the Dnieper river in Kherson Region, with air defense downing at least a dozen HIMARS missiles used in the attacks.

Finally, Ukrainian forces kicked off an operation in Kherson region on 29 August, with the strategic territory, which was liberated by Russian forces in early March, situated north of Crimea and acting as part of a land bridge linking the peninsula to the Russian mainland.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that its forces had repelled the Ukrainian offensive in the Nikolayev and Kherson regions, saying the Ukrainian military had lost more than 560 troops, 26 tanks and two attack aircraft in the foiled assaults.

Monday’s announcement of a "counter-offensive" by the Kiev regime is not the first time the Ukrainian military has proclaimed a strategic operation to regain lost territory. Although similar announcements have been made since May, little if any territory has returned to Ukrainian control since that time.

The United States and its allies have funneled tens of billions of dollars’ worth of military and economic support to the Kiev regime in recent months, with US President Joe Biden announcing a further $3Bln injection of weapons last week. Moscow has repeatedly warned that the aid threatens to escalate the crisis. As for the sweeping western sanctions that followed the launch of Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine, whereas they were designed to cripple Russia’s economy, they have backfired, resulting instead in soaring energy costs and nearly two-digit inflation bringing Europe to an acute cost of living crisis.