Drone strikes alone are insufficient to force Russia into peace or liberate occupied territories, according to Victor Kevlyuk, an expert at the Center for Defense Strategies. Meanwhile, the experience of the United States in its previous wars also shows that ground warfare was inevitable, said Ivan Kirichevsky, an arms expert at Defense Express and a serviceman of the 413th Unmanned Systems Forces Regiment "Raid", in comments to LIGA.net.
"Air strikes by UAVs alone cannot force a major state to capitulate or make significant concessions," Kevlyuk said.
The expert acknowledged that such attacks are effective in exhausting the economy, logistics, and morale. However, he emphasized: "To change the territorial status quo typically requires a ground operation or a combination of military, economic, and diplomatic pressure".
According to Kevlyuk, strikes on Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories weaken Russian forces, complicate supply lines, and may be preparation for future actions – but they do not replace ground deoccupation.
"Complete deoccupation without a ground component is unlikely, if possible at all," Kevlyuk emphasized.
Meanwhile, "Raid" serviceman Kirichevsky, commenting on historical examples, noted to LIGA.net that the United States during the 1991 Iraq War was forced to conduct a serious ground campaign, "relying on overwhelming numerical superiority".
Thus, the Americans had thousands of Abrams tanks, not counting other models – "Sheridans" and M60s, the expert pointed out: "They simply outnumbered Iraqi T-72s".
"And Japan [during World War II] was finished off by Americans with nuclear bombs only because its fleet and army were completely destroyed – the Japanese literally had nothing left to fight with. That is, without ground action it still didn't work out," Kirichevsky noted.
What other sources say
Former spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Seleznov noted that Ukraine lacks resources to conduct an amphibious operation in Crimea.
Retired Major General of the SBU Yagun pointed out that thanks to long-range Ukrainian strikes, reality within Russia has already changed, but one should not exaggerate the speed of political effect from this.
On August 4, a 40-day SBU operation concluded, during which more than 100 strategic targets in the aggressor's rear were struck. Moscow continues to show no readiness to end the war.
The question that remains open is whether a combination of strikes on rear areas, economic pressure, and diplomatic efforts can replace the ground component when resources for a large-scale land operation are lacking.
