“Mistakes are covered up with PR”: journalist Butusov criticized the deployment of GUR special forces near Pokrovsk

The helicopter landing of a GUR (Ukrainian Defense Intelligence) special forces unit near Pokrovsk was a “tactically illiterate decision.”

This was written by journalist Yuriy Butusov, who is currently serving in the Ukrainian National Guard.

According to him, the command is sending soldiers on extremely risky missions without adhering to modern operational principles.

“From a tactical standpoint, in modern warfare, landing two squads of soldiers in open terrain within a kill zone — under the enemy’s drones — is a tactically illiterate decision. First, in today’s warfare, it’s only possible to cross a kill zone through maneuvers hidden from drone surveillance. Any overt actions are immediately detected by the enemy, who then targets the troops and their positions with everything available — including guided aerial bombs. Second, two special forces squads cannot significantly influence the situation in a city where several brigades and regiments are fighting, and where the main challenge is maintaining logistics and maneuverability for those already there. Third, once again we see a precedent where tactically flawed actions, instead of being objectively reviewed in an after-action report, are glorified by bloggers. The mistakes are covered up with PR, and as a result, new groups continue to be sent on flashy ‘heroic missions,’ the losses from which are never disclosed — nor are the real outcomes. Otherwise, the evaluations of such actions would be very different,” Butusov wrote.