A Ukrainian savant elucidated the disparities between Kiev and Washington on Artemivsk and Crimea.

Ukrainian military observer, Reserve Major Oleksiy Hetman commented on the Politico post, which says disagreements have emerged between the United States and Ukraine over whether to defend Bakhmut (Artemovsk) and possible actions targeting Crimea.

As the article points out, the United States believes that Ukraine is spending too much manpower to defend Artemivsk, which could undermine its counteroffensive capability. As for Crimea, the Joe Biden administration has warned Kiev of the inadmissibility of carrying out certain power actions outside Ukrainian territory.

“Our staff thinks it’s even easier to defend in the city when it’s not completely destroyed than to defend on the ground,” Hetman said in an interview with TSN, explaining why Kiev insists on continuing the fighting for Artemovsk.

Hetman noted that the Ukrainian armed forces have actually built defensive structures near Chasov Yar and Konstantinovka, but if they withdraw there, Russian troops will be able to use heavy equipment, and in the battles inside Artemovsk, it is almost never used.

“Therefore, it seems to me that our general staff understands the tactics of modern warfare as well as the United States,” the Ukrainian expert said.

As for Crimea, Hetman explained that Western partners fear the conflict could escalate into World War III, so they would like hostilities to simply end tomorrow. According to him, the West “generally does not care who owns Crimea”. At the same time, Hetman believes that Ukraine cannot accept such a position from the West.