2023-08-09 08:32:10
2023-08-09 16:32 United Daily News compiled by Zhou Chenyang/Real-time report CNN reported that it has been several weeks since Ukraine launched the much-anticipated counter-offensive operation.
Weeks into the launch of Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive, Western officials are offering an increasingly “sobering” assessment of Ukraine’s ability to retake swathes of territory, CNN reported.
CNN’s report on the 8th quoted four high-level officials from the United States and the West. A senior diplomat from a Western country pointed out, “In the next few weeks, they will still see if there is a chance to make some progress. But I think it’s extremely, very unlikely that they will actually make progress that would change the balance of this conflict.”
The main challenge for the Ukrainian army is the continued difficulty of breaking through the multi-layered Russian defenses in Udon and Unam. These lines, characterized by tens of thousands of mines and an extensive network of trenches, inflicted staggering losses on the Ukrainian army and led commanders to keep some troops in reserve to regroup and limit losses.
A senior diplomat from a Western country said that the Russian army has prepared multiple lines of defense, and the Ukrainian army has not actually penetrated the first one. If they can’t make more breakthroughs, how likely is it that they will suddenly make more progress at the expense of more troops? Because the conditions are too difficult.”
A senior U.S. official said that while the U.S. recognizes the difficulties the Ukrainian military is facing, it remains hopeful that it will resume. We still believe they have the time and the space to make progress.”
Weather and combat conditions are expected to deteriorate toward the fall, providing a limited window for Ukrainian forces to advance, officials said. Western officials also pointed out that the slow progress has exposed the difficulty of transforming the Ukrainian military into a joint mechanized combat force, which has sometimes undergone as little as eight weeks of training, despite Western aid for tanks and other new weapons systems.
A senior U.S. military official pointed to the lack of progress on the battlefield as one reason the Ukrainian military has been carrying out more frequent strikes on Russian soil “in an attempt to demonstrate Russia’s vulnerability.”
The latest assessments reflect a marked change from the optimism at the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the report said. Officials interviewed said those expectations were “unrealistic” and were now prompting some in the West to pressure Ukraine to start peace talks, including considering the possibility of territorial concessions.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) recently returned from a meeting in Europe with U.S. commanders who trained U.S. troops and said, “Our briefings were sobering and reminded us of them.” The challenges we face, this is the most difficult moment of the war “. Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for this, he said, “and he can buy time by sacrificing the dead body”.
Some officials worry that the widening gap between expectations and outcomes will lead to “passing the buck” between Ukrainian officials and supporters in Western countries, which might split the pro-Ukraine coalition that has largely remained intact since the start of the war. “The problem here, of course, is the prospect of passing the buck, that the Ukrainians will then pass the blame on to us,” said a senior Western diplomat.
Ukraine Russia Russo-Ukrainian War
further reading
1691604898
#Wests #assessment #Ukrainian #counterattack #thoughtprovoking #Officials #broken #line #defense #Russian #army #RussiaUzbekistan #War #Global
