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Kiev’s Counteroffensive: Ukrainian Army Has ‘Breakthrough Problem’
Kiev’s Counteroffensive: Ukrainian Army Has ‘Breakthrough Problem’
Sputnik International
Russian forces have been successfully tackling Kiev’s counteroffensive, which has already seen heavy losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
2023-08-06T17:02+0000
2023-08-06T17:02+0000
2023-08-06T17:02+0000
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The current situation on the line of contact in Ukraine indicates that the Ukrainian Army has “a breakthrough problem” when it comes to their counteroffensive, Barry Posen, the Ford international professor of political science of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has claimed.In an opinion piece published by a US media outlet, Posen recalled that the Ukrainian government earlier stated that the counteroffensive’s goal was to retake control of all the territory in Ukraine that Kiev lost since 2014.Posen warned that failing “at this kind of campaign will mean that Ukraine is likely destined for a long war of attrition—an inauspicious one, pitting it against a much more populous country.”He underscored that Russian forces “have prepared a dense and well-constructed defensive system” to tackle Ukraine’s counteroffensive, including minefields, deep anti-tank ditches, and concrete obstacles.The author suggested that for a successful breakthrough, the Ukrainian armored vehicles “themselves need to be able to move forward, taking their firepower into the depth of the enemy’s positions.”The remarks come amid Western media reports about the slower-than-expected progress of Kiev’s counteroffensive, something that has already been admitted both by US and Ukrainian officials.Speaking at a recent Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, pointed out the failure of Ukraine’s alleged second phase of the counteroffensive.He earlier stressed that Kiev’s counteroffensive, which kicked off on June 4, brought no results."Neither the colossal resources that were pumped into the Kiev regime, nor the supply of Western weapons, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles and missiles helped. The delivery of thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers who were most actively used in attempts to break through the front of our army did not help either,” the Russian president emphasized.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230731/ukraines-counteroffensive-fails-special-military-operation-to-continue---kremlin-1112275062.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230804/ukraine-loses-over-43000-soldiers-since-start-of-counteroffensive---russian-defense-ministry-1112387858.html
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Kiev’s Counteroffensive: Ukrainian Army Has ‘Breakthrough Problem’
Russian forces have been successfully tackling Kiev’s counteroffensive, which has already seen heavy losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The current situation on the line of contact in Ukraine indicates that the Ukrainian Army has “a breakthrough problem” when it comes to
their counteroffensive, Barry Posen, the Ford international professor of political science of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has claimed.
In an opinion piece published by a US media outlet, Posen recalled that the Ukrainian government earlier stated that the counteroffensive’s goal was to retake control of all the territory in Ukraine that Kiev lost since 2014.
The author argued that “to achieve this goal through military action, the Ukrainian military must accomplish one of the most daunting of military tasks: It must break through dense, well-prepared defensive positions” of the Russian army and “move quickly toward an important geographic objective such as the Sea of Azov.”
Posen warned that failing “at this kind of campaign will mean that Ukraine is likely destined for
a long war of attrition—an inauspicious one, pitting it against a much more populous country.”
Even though Ukraine “naturally wishes to avoid the attritional war by succeeding at its breakthrough campaign, […] military history suggests the challenges here are also more daunting than have been commonly understood—at least among the public in the West,” according to the US political scientist.
He underscored that Russian forces “have prepared a dense and well-constructed defensive system” to tackle Ukraine’s counteroffensive, including minefields, deep anti-tank ditches, and concrete obstacles.
The author suggested that for a successful breakthrough, the Ukrainian armored vehicles “themselves need to be able to move forward, taking their firepower into the depth of the enemy’s positions.”
“Facts sufficient to make an educated guess about Ukraine’s odds of success are few. But observers should not be surprised if this offensive peters out with, at best, a partial success,” Posen concluded.
The remarks come amid Western media reports about the slower-than-expected progress of
Kiev’s counteroffensive, something that has already been admitted both by US and Ukrainian officials.
Speaking at a recent Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, pointed out the failure of Ukraine’s alleged second phase of the counteroffensive.
"The enemy was not successful in all fronts of the firefight. All counteroffensive attempts have been stopped, and the enemy has been pushed back with heavy losses," Putin said.
He earlier stressed that Kiev’s counteroffensive, which kicked off on June 4, brought no results.
"Neither the colossal resources that were pumped into
the Kiev regime, nor the supply of Western weapons, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles and missiles helped. The delivery of thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers who were most actively used in attempts to break through the front of our army did not help either,” the Russian president emphasized.
