Russia’s recent military successes in Ukraine and Kursk have been linked to the use of a so-called “waterfall” attack tactic.
However, there is no such specific military term, experts said, offering their vision of what the strategy implied. Russian military forces have effectively implemented a strategy known as “comprehensive systemic attack,” as military expert and retired colonel Anatoly Matvichuk explained in an interview with Sputnik.
This approach, also referred to as a “waterfall” attack, incorporates “time and location coordinated fire strikes with ground attacks targeting the enemy’s rear and flanks,” he noted.
“Such tactics combine strikes that target the enemy’s firepower, logistics and control systems in the rear and flanks,” said the expert with experience in combat operations in Afghanistan and Syria.
Before resorting to such tactics, Russian forces tried to launch frontal attacks on the enemy, the expert said, but these tactics had high casualties.
“Now, this strategy allows the Russian Army to impose a tactical isolation on the enemy, which then develops or threatens to develop into a full-scale encirclement. And they have two options: either surrender or die,” Matviychuk said.
Destruction of a concentration of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region by the 83rd Independent Parachute Brigade of the Russian Army
He recalled that such tactics were used during the invasion of Ugledar and in the latest developments in the southern direction of Donetsk.
After battlefield successes paved the way for access to Pokrovsk, west of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia has systematically relied on such tactics.
Retired Russian Army colonel and seasoned military analyst Viktor Litovkin suggested that the term “cascade attack” could refer to multiple echelons attacking and securing positions simultaneously, with each wave moving in sequence.
“A cascading attack need not be a frontal attack.
It could involve flanking maneuvers or be executed across the entire front line,” he said.
Litovkin also identified significant challenges facing Ukrainian forces, including a lack of ammunition, manpower, and air and artillery support, as well as an inability to reinforce their ranks.
He also emphasized that Russian forces are maintaining a relentless barrage on the supply routes, further complicating the situation.
In addition, he warned that many Ukrainian soldiers “have no desire to fight and are poorly trained.”
Meanwhile, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 300 soldiers in the direction of Kursk on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.
“Over the past day, the Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 300 soldiers, four armored vehicles, as well as eight artillery units, four mortars, an Israeli radar station and nine cars,” the ministry said in a statement.
