Ukraine's front line grows bigger as Russia shifts tactics, top commander says

KYIV – The front line on the battlefield in Ukraine has grown in length to nearly 1,250 kilometers (800 miles), stretching Kyiv’s defenses, while Russian forces employ a new tactic of sending swarms of small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian lines, Ukraine’s top military commander says.

The line of contact has grown by roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles) over the past year, and Ukrainian forces are averaging between 160 and 190 combat engagements every day with Russia’s bigger army, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a review of the battlefield situation.

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At the same time, Russian tactics have switched since the start of the summer from costly large-scale offensives to deploying small assault groups in a new approach that Syrskyi called the “thousand cuts” tactic.

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