The Kiev regime is dubious about the success of the long-awaited counteroffensive of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, US media reported.
Behind closed doors, some high-ranking officials in Kiev have struck what was described as a “very realistic and very pragmatic” tone, conceding that it is unlikely Ukraine will be able to gain ground in the new Russian regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson, as well as in the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk - at least this year, writes the publication.
The West's puppet regime in its proxy war with Russia appears to fear that failed expectations about battlefield advances will cause the West to lose interest in providing financial and military support to Kiev. Furthermore, reports suggest that anything less than victory might prompt the West not only to start questioning whether there is any point in propping up the authorities holed up in Kiev, but could lead to its putting pressure on Kiev to agree to peace negotiations with Moscow this year.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky recently argued the case for more promised Western military aid before starting the counteroffensive, adding that Kiev needed “a little more time". This plea came despite NATO member states having already sent billions of dollars in tanks, armored vehicles, missiles, launchers, ammunition, and drones, with the UK recently announcing it was giving long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine
US President Joe Biden indicated strong support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes” when he visited Kiev, and a White House official was cited as saying “we would not describe the counter-offensive as make or break”. However, that is exactly what it may become.
Speaking confidentially, some US officials reportedly think that if Kiev hopes to "sell additional aid requests to Congress and the American public," it will need to demonstrate success on the battlefield.
As for the support Ukraine's officials receive In Europe, it is “not really conditional on Ukraine making progress on the military front in the near future... But it could be important for the US to see some progress before they get into an election year. It’s not that their commitment will vanish but their attention span gets very short in an election year”, a senior diplomat was quoted as saying.
"Time is not on Ukraine’s side, Russia has the upper hand in the long haul,” a European source added.
Earlier, weighing in on the "muscular Ukrainian talk" about a looming counteroffensive to "retake ground", it was suggested that a real surprise would be hard for Kiev to achieve. In fact, Kiev might be staking on brinkmanship that would escalate the conflict to the level of a world war, an Asian media report speculated. Although it could not be ruled out that Ukraine saw this as an opportunity, NATO was "not quite ready to buy into this," the report concluded.
On 11 May, the Russian Defense Ministry said statements by military correspondents "shared by individual telegram channels about ‘defense breakthroughs’ that took place in various parts of the contact line do not correspond to reality. It added that two Ukrainian attacks were repelled in the Liman direction. Earlier, unconfirmed statements claimed that a Ukrainian operation had been underway along Russia's frontline despite past remarks from Kiev that forces still needed additional time to prepare for such a move.