Kiev’s attempted counteroffensive in Kherson may be premature, a Pentagon official has informed the New York Times.
“The announced offensive shows the Ukrainians’ appetite for progress on the battlefield,” the unnamed official told the newspaper. They added however that the Pentagon is “cautious” about whether Ukraine has the “sufficient” military capabilities to make any significant progress against Russian forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported Monday that its forces had repelled a Ukrainian offensive in the Nikolayev and Kherson regions, saying the Ukrainian military had lost over 560 troops, 26 tanks and two attack aircraft in the foiled assaults.
In an update Tuesday, the MoD stated that Ukraine lost over 1,200 fighters in a failed offensive along the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog line and along other strategic directions. 48 tanks, 46 infantry fighting vehicles, 37 other armored vehicles, 8 pickup trucks fitted with large-caliber machineguns were also destroyed, according to the military.
Also Tuesday, Kherson region’s pro-Russian administration reported that Russian air defenses had repelled a missile attack against the region. “Kherson will never return to the control of the Nazis, no matter what they promise, no matter what they do,” regional administration deputy chief Kirill Stremousov told reporters.
Monday’s announcement of a ‘counteroffensive’ by Kiev is the the latest time that the Ukrainian military has proclaimed a strategic operation to regain lost territory, with similar announcements made since May but little if any territory returning to Ukrainian control since that time.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych, one of the architects of the Ukrainian security crisis, announced the start of measures to “liberate” Kherson and other southern territories from Russia on Monday night on his Telegram page. On Tuesday, he posted an update, urging his countrymen to “calm down” and stressing that any gains would not be “quick nor easy.”
“What appears like ‘stalling’ to you, to the [commander in chief] is probably a planning stage which has its own logic and rhythm, including pauses and a change in direction to focus on the main efforts. So many shouted ‘we believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine’. Well the time has come to believe,” he assured.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February amid fears that Kiev was planning an offensive to try to crush the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The Ukrainian crisis began in 2014, when pro-Western political forces staged a coup d’état in Kiev, prompting Crimea to break off from Ukraine and rejoin Russia after a referendum, and sparking a civil war in the country’s east.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the ongoing conflict a "tragedy for the Ukrainian people," and accused the West of seeking to "fight [Russia] 'to the last Ukrainian.'"