- Sputnik International, 1920, 25.02.2022
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev's forces.

Ukraine’s Counteroffensive ‘Struggling’ Against Russia’s Defenses, Top NATO General Says

© AFP 2023 / GENYA SAVILOVUkrainian artillerymen fire a M777 howitzer toward Russian positions in the Donetsk region on June 23, 2023.
Ukrainian artillerymen fire a M777 howitzer toward Russian positions in the Donetsk region on June 23, 2023. - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.06.2023
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Ukraine's forces have so far shown little success in all directions of their counteroffensive, despite receiving billions of dollars' worth of military equipment from the US and its NATO allies. Kiev's Western partners are reportedly increasingly frustrated with this lack of tangible progress.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has not yet achieved significant successes and is struggling against Russia’s defenses, US General Christopher Cavoli has been cited as saying.
“Russia still has the advantage of mass,” the commander of United States European Command purportedly told a private gathering, according to a media report.
Indeed, the well-advertised Ukrainian counteroffensive, launched on June 4, has borne no tangible results. Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters during the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that Kiev had failed to reach any strategic objectives since the beginning of its counteroffensive, losing 186 tanks and 418 armored vehicles. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said recently that “16 days of intense hostilities” had prompted Ukrainian forces to markedly wind down their activity, not least because they had “suffered significant losses” both in men and materiel during the counteroffensive.

Since day one of Russia's special military operation, a vast amount of Ukraine's military equipment has been destroyed, including: 442 airplanes and 238 helicopters, 4,585 unmanned aerial vehicles, 426 air defense missile systems, 9,939 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,122 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 5,100 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 10,927 units of special military equipment, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

But for all its losses, the regime in Kiev is firmly on its donors' hook, as the Western alliance has been pumping weapons to support the US-led proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. The billions of dollars' worth of military equipment, which Moscow has repeatedly warned is a legitimate target that only prolongs the conflict, is being meticulously obliterated by the Russian Armed Forces. Ukraine, meanwhile, has wedged itself between a rock and a hard place, as it is no longer in a position to make independent decisions, and jumps to the bidding of its handlers.
A Russian serviceman taking part in Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine. File photo - Sputnik International, 1920, 22.06.2023
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
Ukrainian Counteroffensive Falling Short of Expectations, Western Officials Say
In the West, amid a growing weariness of the Ukraine conflict and anti-Russia sanctions that have backfired on both US and European economies, all eyes are on Kiev to display some degree of success if it doesn't want the stream of assistance to run dry.

“For better or worse the outcome [of the counteroffensive] is going to impact everything we do regarding Ukraine, and we are all aware of that… Funding, support, political engagement . . . and most importantly the peace talks that are coming whether we like them or not,” an unnamed senior European diplomat was also quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, as the Ukrainian offensive "treads water," so to say, EU capitals have been prompted to rethink the level of support they believe Kiev needs.

Since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine last year, EU members have drummed together more than $55 billion in direct support to Kiev. Earlier, the European Commission reviewed the draft EU budget for the 2024-2027 period and asked member states to increase it by 66 billion euros ($72 billion), mostly to fund assistance for Ukraine.

The EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday is gearing up to offer future security commitments” to Ukraine, to be laid out in draft conclusions, according to reports. At the meeting, taking place less than two weeks before the NATO alliance summit in Vilnius next month, France and Germany are cited as falling in line with US- and UK-driven calls to provide Ukraine with bilateral security arrangements, coupled with long-term financing, military assistance, training, and intelligence assistance. A proposed EU declaration, the text of which was ostensibly conceived by France, would send “a very clear political signal” of enduring support for Ukraine, an insider was cited as saying. Earlier, French media reported, citing sources, that the Macron government was weighing the option of Ukraine joining NATO as an independent security guarantee.
France's plans to support Ukraine's accession to NATO prove that Paris continues to slide towards the bloc's radical minority that sees itself as a party to the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, adding that such actions may result in tragic consequences for European and global security.
The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow. - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.06.2023
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